Endoscopic delivery.
QSCOPE, a single-use endoscopic system designed for the high turnover workflow.
Medical Device · Glaucoma
Glaucoma is a two-pressure disease.
QMAX is the first implant built to treat it that way.
IOPIntraocular pressureFluid pressure inside the eye. Most glaucoma therapies aim to lower IOP.
15mmHg
Inside the eye
ICP / ONSAPCerebrospinal fluid pressurePressure in the fluid space around the optic nerve, behind the lamina cribrosa.
9mmHg
Around the optic nerve
Two-pressure model
Balanced
TLPD = IOP − posterior CSF pressure
+6.0 mmHg
Simplified educational model — not a patient-specific measurement.
Nerve head health
Glaucoma-associated pattern
IOP > ONSAP
Balanced / healthy relationship
IOP ≈ ONSAP
IIH-associated pattern
ONSAP > IOP
Balanced pressure relationship. IOP 15 mmHg, ICP or ONSAP 9 mmHg, translaminar pressure difference plus 6 mmHg.
QMAX
First-in-class glaucoma implant
A permanently implanted, bleb-free, micro-shunt that relieves strain on the optic nerve by equalizing the pressure difference over the optic nerve headOptic nerve headWhere retinal nerve fibers exit the eye. QMAX is designed to relieve strain at this point., addressing the underlying mechanism behind vision loss in glaucoma.
IOPIntraocular pressureFluid pressure inside the eye. Most glaucoma therapies aim to lower IOP.Optic nerve headOptic nerve headWhere retinal nerve fibers exit the eye. QMAX is designed to relieve strain at this point.ICPCerebrospinal fluid pressurePressure in the fluid space around the optic nerve, behind the lamina cribrosa.
No bleb.
A closed pathway, with no bleb to manage or revise.
No anti-fibrotics.
No reliance on mitomycin C or anti-scarring agents.
Glaucoma is the world's leading cause of irreversible blindness
Worldwide, over 80 million people live with glaucoma. Today's surgeries and drugs aim to lower eye pressure, and yet vision loss continues.
We have been solving only half the problem
Healthy Visual Field
80M+
people living with glaucoma globally
1 in 4
patients will go blind in at least one eye from glaucoma
Cause
Glaucoma damages vision when sustained pressure strains the optic nerve headOptic nerve headWhere retinal nerve fibers exit the eye. QMAX is designed to relieve strain at this point.. Fluid inside the eye (intraocular pressure) and fluid around the optic nerve both matter. When the translaminar gradientTranslaminar pressure gradientThe pressure difference across the optic nerve head between IOP and CSF pressure. A sustained gradient strains nerve fibers. between them stays elevated, nerve fibers are damaged and sight is lost — even when eye pressure looks acceptable on its own.
Symptoms
Glaucoma is often called the silent thief of sight because it can progress with few or no early symptoms. Peripheral vision may narrow first; over time, untreated disease can lead to tunnel vision and irreversible blindness. Regular eye exams are essential because damage can occur before a person notices vision loss.
Current treatments
Most care today lowers IOPIntraocular pressureFluid pressure inside the eye. Most glaucoma therapies aim to lower IOP. with eye drops, laser therapy, or surgery such as trabeculectomy, tube shunts, and MIGS devices. These approaches can slow progression, but they focus on pressure inside the eye — not the full pressure difference across the optic nerve headOptic nerve headWhere retinal nerve fibers exit the eye. QMAX is designed to relieve strain at this point. that drives nerve strain.
Complications
Filtering surgeries can require bleb management, anti-fibrotic agents, and revision procedures. Infection, scarring, hypotony, and long-term bleb failure remain risks. Vision loss can continue despite apparently controlled IOPIntraocular pressureFluid pressure inside the eye. Most glaucoma therapies aim to lower IOP., particularly in normal-tension glaucoma.
Built by surgeons, engineers, and operators.
LIQID is led by a glaucoma surgeon-founder and a multidisciplinary team across biomedical engineering, clinical research, regulatory, and quality, headquartered in Minneapolis.
Daemon McClunan, MD
Founder and CEO
Rick Beckman, MD
Chief Medical Officer, incoming
Joshua Fischer, PhD
Chief Operating Officer
Lucinda Camras, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Liam Swanepoel, PhD
Chief Technology Officer
Daemon McClunan, MD
Founder and CEO
John Berdahl, MD
Director
Dick Lindstrom, MD
Director
Rick Beckman, MD
Director
Sarah Mthintso
Director
Duncan Miller
Director
Sanjay Asrani, MD
Scientific Advisor
Keith Barton, MD
Scientific Advisor
Ike Ahmed, MD
Scientific Advisor
Reay Brown, MD
Scientific Advisor
David T Tse, MD
Scientific Advisor
Tom Samuelson
Scientific Advisor
LIQID Medical was founded to do one thing well: address glaucoma at the mechanism. The company is headquartered in Minneapolis and led by people who have spent careers inside this disease.
Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States (est. 2017).
The optic nerve is exposed to two different pressures.
Inside the eye
The pressure inside the eye.
Around the optic nerve
The pressure in the fluid space around the optic nerve.
The pressure difference between the inside of the eye and the fluid space around the optic nerve is called the translaminar gradientTranslaminar pressure gradientThe pressure difference across the optic nerve head between IOP and CSF pressure. A sustained gradient strains nerve fibers.. This pressure strains the nerve and kills vision.
Treating IOPIntraocular pressureFluid pressure inside the eye. Most glaucoma therapies aim to lower IOP. alone leaves half the equation untouched.
Over the past decade, the field has increasingly converged on this gradient as a primary driver of vision loss, and QMAX is built to address it directly.
Backed by the names that shaped modern glaucoma surgery.
Our advisors and KOLs include leaders in glaucoma, robotics, and ophthalmic device commercialization. Named advisors and KOL quotes published only when cleared. See the team above.
Three ways you can move QMAX forward.
Investors
We are advancing QMAX through Bridge financing toward Series A and US clinical milestones. If preventing blindness from glaucoma fits your thesis, we want to talk.
Open an investor conversationStrategic partners
Surgical innovators, distributors, and strategics: QMAX is built for the high turnover workflow and the next paradigm of glaucoma care.
Discuss partnership