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QMAX · Glaucoma

QMAX: the two-pressure glaucoma implant.

Equalizing pressure across the optic nerve head.

Glaucoma damages the optic nerve through a pressure gradient between the inside of the eye and the fluid around the nerve. QMAX is a first-in-class implant designed to neutralize that gradient.

Illustration of QMAX routing fluid to equalize pressure across the optic nerve.

The translaminar pressure gradientTranslaminar pressure gradientThe pressure difference across the optic nerve head between IOP and ICP. A sustained gradient strains nerve fibers.

The optic nerve consists of roughly one million fibers, each one carrying pieces of the world we see from the retina to the brain. These fibres exit the eye through the semi-ridged mesh called the Lamina Cribrosa. Optic nerve fibres at the Lamina Cribrosa are exposed to two pressures: intraocular pressure (IOPIntraocular PressurePressure inside the eye, pushing outward against the optic nerve head) in front and the intracranial pressure (ICPIntracranial PressurePressure from cerebrospinal fluid behind the eye, pushing forward against the optic nerve head) in the space behind the nerve. What strains and damages the nerve is the difference between them, the translaminar pressure gradientTranslaminar pressure gradientThe pressure difference across the optic nerve head between IOP and ICP. A sustained gradient strains nerve fibers.. Lowering IOPIntraocular PressurePressure inside the eye, pushing outward against the optic nerve head alone narrows that gap from one side only. If the gradient remains, nerve fibers keep dying.

Illustration of intraocular and intracranial pressure opposing at the optic nerve head.
Lamina cribrosaIOPICP

What QMAX is designed to do

  • Connects the fluid pressures in the eye to the fluid pressure around the optic nerve

  • Equalizes pressure across the optic nerve headOptic Nerve HeadWhere ICP and IOP act on the optic nerve fibers as they exit the eye

  • Operates without a filtering bleb and without anti-fibrotic agents

  • Targets both high-IOPIntraocular PressurePressure inside the eye, pushing outward against the optic nerve head and normal-tension glaucoma populations

Close-up of the QMAX micro-shunt tube at the optic nerve sheath.

What QMAX is not

Not a trabecular shunt.

Does not drain into Schlemm's canal.

Not a bleb-based filter.

No subconjunctival blister, no bleb revision.

Not an IOPIntraocular PressurePressure inside the eye, pushing outward against the optic nerve head-only device.

Built to equalize translaminar pressure, not only lower IOP.

The result is a device designed to address what other surgeries leave on the table, including the patients whose vision keeps dropping at "normal" IOPs.

Clinical illustration of a filtering bleb after conventional glaucoma surgery.
Existing devices designed to treat moderate to severe glaucoma drain excess eye fluid into a subconjunctival blister
Endoscopic QMAX delivery with QSCOPE.

Simple, quick and repeatable endoscopic workflow

QMAX is delivered with QSCOPE, a single-use endoscopic system that gently tents the nerve sheath into a protected space and places the implant.

Designed to be

  • Simple, quick and repeatable

  • Single use minimally invasive endoscopic insertion

  • High-turnover workflow compatible

  • Free of post-op bleb management

Route to market

QMAX is on a defined regulatory and clinical pathway toward US market access. The milestones below are forward-looking and subject to change; they are presented for investor and partner context, not as guarantees.

  1. 2023

    First in Human

  2. 2026

    Feasibility Study

  3. 2027

    Endoscopic Delivery Feasibility Study

  4. 2028

    FDA IDE

  5. 2028–2030

    Pivotal Trials

  6. 2030

    FDA De Novo Approval (targeted)

What leaders in glaucoma are saying

Insights from advisors who have reviewed QMAX.

I believe deeply in the team, the science, the product, the leadership. They have a real chance to transform glaucoma.

John Berdahl, MD

The first device targeting the actual mechanism behind visual field loss… a transformational change in the treatment of glaucoma.

Richard Beckman, MD

The QMAX addresses the fundamental limitations of current devices.

Reay Brown, MD

My only concern with the QMAX is that I didn't invent it myself

Michael Belkin, MD

The science behind the device

  • 10 global patent families covering the ONSAS mechanism, the device and delivery system, and the surgical method

  • First-in-human experience across three device generations, engineering out failure modes generation by generation

  • Clinical pathway routed through US sites

Talk to the team