Manufacturers of contact lenses may or may not want prescribers to be agnostic as to brand, but the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) contact lens rule requires that prescribers give the prescription to the customer when the eye exam is complete.
Eyenuk Inc. is significantly extending the scope of its artificial intelligence system for the automatic analysis of retinal images, adding the diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and glaucoma to the EU approved uses of Eyeart AI.
Thirona BV spun out its retina division into a stand-alone business, Thirona Retina BV, focused exclusively on the eye disease market, effective Jan. 1, 2023. The development comes after the recent expansion of Retcad, Thirona’s flagship solution for eye disease screening. Thirona BV will continue to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-driven systems for precision medicine in lung disease.
Earlysight SA is developing a novel ophthalmology device that can be used to diagnose certain degenerative eye disorders long before onset of first symptoms. Earlysight and researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) have reported positive results for their first clinical trial of Cellularis in the journal Ophthalmology Science.
Chaomu Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd. has raised nearly ¥100 million (US$14 million) in a series A+ round to develop its ophthalmic medical devices. The proceeds from the financing will be used for the clinical trials of its electromodulation product for nystagmus and the development of implantable medical chips, as well as to speed up the development of products for myopia correction. Following the financing, Beijing-based Chaomu will expand to the global market by looking for collaborations with international institutions. It plans to obtain marketing approvals for its ophthalmic medical devices in the U.S. and Europe.
“If you can see the future, you can change it. People say your eyes are the window to your soul, but the eyes are actually the window to your future health,” Toku Eyes Ltd. Founder and CEO Ehsan Vaghefi told BioWorld.
Tears shed today by patients frustrated by an inability to obtain a diagnosis could speed diagnoses for others in the future. Researchers at Wenzhou Medical University, China, have developed a new nano membrane system, dubbed I-Tears, that harvests and purifies tiny droplets called exosomes from tears, allowing rapid analysis for disease biomarkers.
The FDA’s ability, or lack thereof, to churn out guidances is not always the stuff of industrial outrage, but manufacturers of laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) systems might find the timing of a new draft guidance on the procedure somewhat odd. The draft guidance arrives nearly a decade and a half after an April 2008 advisory hearing.
Abbvie Inc. and Istar Medical SA inked a deal to develop and commercialize Istar’s Miniject device to treat patients with primary open-angle glaucoma. The minimally invasive glaucoma surgical (MIGS) device won CE mark approval in November and has been available in some European countries since early 2022.