An article appearing in the October 2016 “Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures newsletter http://ventures.jhu.edu describes the development of a technology to help diabetics detect eye problems faster.Jason Brooke and Abhishek Rege with the Johns Hopkins Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program, www.bme.jhu.edu are developing technology to detect diabetic retinopathy before patients even notice what is happening. The pair co-founded Vasoptic Medical Inc. http://vasopticmedical.com to go forward on the path towards commercialization.
The retinal technology examines blood vessels in tissue that is exposed to light. The next step is for the technology to take a series of back-of-the-eye photographs over several seconds to check for narrowing blood vessels.
Vasoptic’s software algorithm interprets the photo series to measure the blood flow rate through the vessels over time. If the slightest restriction in blood flow is detected from an initial photo to one year later in the series, then the patient can be referred immediately to an eye care provider for treatment.
Brooks and Rege are designing their technology for use at point-of-care locations like clinics, triage stations, and pharmacies. The technology will also be used in places where eye care isn’t normally given but where diabetes patients are likely to go for medications and healthcare.
Brooke and Rege recently conducted a trial on their product at a University of Maryland medical clinic with success and the researchers hope to publish the results of the trial by the end of the year.
In the future, they want to bring the low cost and portable technology to China and India. They also are improving their product and hope to obtain FDA market clearance for Vasoptic’s first retinal imager within the next year and a half.
Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures has helped the researchers patent the technology and helped to raise funds to continue their work. Since forming the company, Brooke and Rege have raised a little more than $3 million with about three quarters of the funding coming from grants including funding from Maryland’s Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) http://tedco.md.