This press release was jointly issued by Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) and Santen.
- SONIC 2.0, a S$21 million collaboration between the Singapore Eye Research Institute and Santen Pharmaceutical builds on the success of SONIC 1.0, which delivered multiple clinical and commercial outcomes.
- The partnership will focus on glaucoma, ocular surface disease, presbyopia, and myopia, advancing novel therapeutics that address significant unmet clinical needs.
- Supported under Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 Plan (RIE2025), SONIC 2.0 strengthens Singapore’s role as a global hub for ophthalmic innovation.
The Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) and Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a global pharmaceutical company committed to eye health headquartered in Osaka, Japan have launched the Santen–SERI Open Innovation Center (SONIC) 2.0, a next-generation research collaboration designed to accelerate translational development of first-in-class, disease-modifying therapies for vision-threatening eye diseases.
SONIC 2.0 builds on the achievements of SERI and Santen’s long term strategic partnership since 2014, including SONIC 1.0, a S$37 million collaboration from 2017 to 2023. Valued at S$21 million, the new collaboration combines Santen’s pharmaceutical expertise with SERI’s clinical and translational research capabilities to deliver new treatments for glaucoma and ocular surface diseases, presbyopia, and myopia.
Plans for SONIC 2.0
Whereas SONIC 1.0 was more exploratory and broad in scope, SONIC 2.0 shifts towards a more focused and targeted approach, enabling deeper mechanistic studies of the disease-modifying therapies.
Key research programmes under SONIC 2.0 include:
- Discovery and optimisation of novel compounds for glaucoma.
- Investigation of anti-scarring agents for multi-disease applications.
- Development of improved treatments for myopia control, including strategies that may halt disease progression.
- Establishment of a new nonclinical model for presbyopia and its application in evaluating therapeutic candidates.
The three-year initiative, which will run from December 2025 to November 2028, aims to generate two new clinical-stage candidates and expand the ophthalmic drug pipeline for Asia and beyond. SONIC 2.0 is expected to deliver tangible translational outcomes and contribute to Singapore’s biomedical innovation landscape through talent development, commercialisation, and future product launches projected by 2035.
Achievements from Early Collaborations including SONIC 1.0 since 2014
The initial collaboration successfully delivered 13 research projects across multiple ophthalmic domains. The projects include research work in diabetic retinopathy, myopia, dry eye and glaucoma. Among the projects were two licensed technologies and six joint patents filed for work on myopia, anti-scarring agents, and retina.
