VISTA CENTER and KODIAK SCIENCES UNITE TO RAISE AWARENESS AND EXPAND SUPPORT FOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH VISION LOSS
Palo Alto, CA – June 1, 2020 – Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, a nonprofit serving individuals living with vision loss, today announced its partnership with Kodiak Sciences to launch the Live Your Best Life campaign. Kodiak is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics to treat chronic, high-prevalence retinal diseases.
Vista Center has provided evaluation, counseling, education and training to blind and visually impaired individuals of all ages since 1936. With Kodiak’s support as a Premier Corporate Partner, Vista has launched the Live Your Best Life campaign to expand the center’s capacity to meet the tremendous demand for its programs and services during COVID-19 and beyond. Vista Center and Kodiak Sciences are committed to increasing awareness of Vista Center’s mission and expanding access to the centers’ comprehensive services.
“Vista Center does a tremendous job in our community to address the unique needs of people with vision loss,” said Victor Perlroth, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Kodiak Sciences. “They are highly trained and benefit many thousands each year. We are so pleased to partner with them and support this shared mission.”
“It has been a great privilege to engage with the Vista Center team and community. Through this partnership, we hope to expand the impact of Vista Center’s mission in a meaningful way,” said Cindy Ressi, Kodiak Sciences’ Business Operations Manager.
Karae Lisle, Vista Center’s Executive Director, eager to announce this distinctive relationship, noted, “Scientific advancements supported by companies like Kodiak Sciences shape the future of individuals with a wide range of vision specific challenges. We are deeply grateful to our partner, Kodiak Sciences, for their ongoing generosity and inspiring commitment to improving the quality of life for people living with vision loss. The focus of this partnership absolutely aligns with Vista Center’s conviction that vision loss need not be a barrier to independent living in the age of medical innovation, technology, heightened diversity and inclusion.”
About Kodiak Sciences
Kodiak (Nasdaq: KOD) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics to treat chronic, high-prevalence retinal diseases. Founded in 2009, we are focused on bringing new science to the design and manufacture of next generation retinal medicines to prevent and treat the leading causes of blindness globally. Our ABC Platform™ uses molecular engineering to merge the fields of antibody-based and chemistry-based therapies and is at the core of Kodiak’s discovery engine. Kodiak’s lead product candidate, KSI-301, is a novel anti-VEGF antibody biopolymer conjugate being developed for the treatment of retinal vascular diseases including age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in elderly patients, and diabetic eye diseases, a leading cause of blindness in working-age patients. Kodiak has leveraged its ABC Platform to build a pipeline of product candidates in various stages of development including KSI-501, our bispecific anti-IL-6/VEGF biopolymer conjugate for the treatment of neovascular retinal diseases with an inflammatory component, and we are expanding our early research pipeline to include ABC Platform based triplet inhibitors for multifactorial retinal diseases such as dry AMD and glaucoma. Kodiak is based in Palo Alto, CA. For more information, please visit localhos:8080.
About Vista Center
Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit, founded in 1936, with a mission to empower individuals who are blind or visually impaired to embrace life to the fullest through evaluation, counseling, education, and training. In 2019, Vista Center served over 3,500 individuals and their families with comprehensive low vision services. Vista serves students, working adults and seniors, living in San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties.
Vista’s established comprehensive services uniquely address emotional, functional, and mobility client challenges, which require a high touch and intensive approach. Highly trained staff are committed to teach new skills and strategies to overcome the impact of vision loss on daily living activities and emotional well-being. Client plan(s) are customized to increase the opportunity for success, supporting the idea that every client can reach their personal goals, and live their best life.
The Live Your Best Life Campaign enables Vista Center to catch up with the tremendous demand for vision rehabilitation and services, reduce their waitlist, and maintain the current quality of service to those challenged with vision loss.
For more information about the Live Your Best Life campaign, please visit https://www.vistacenterbestlife.org/
Vista Center: Kimberley McCoy – kmccoy@vistacenter.org 650-858-0202 x117
Kodiak Sciences: media@kodiak.com