IOP Business Start-Up Award: Occuity
Occuity receives a Business Start-Up Award for the development of groundbreaking medical diagnostic instruments that enable fast, pain-free and non-contact screening and monitoring of ophthalmic and chronic diseases using the eye as a window to health.
Occuity is developing medical technologies to transform disease diagnosis, screening and monitoring, using the eye as a window on the health of the body. The eye has long been recognised as the ideal window, but until now, the instruments necessary to exploit these biomarkers have not existed.
Occuity has developed and combined a range of exciting technologies to generate a platform ocular measurement system that provides non-contact, non-invasive, pain-free and disposable-free ophthalmic measurements quickly and conveniently. These systems are unlike anything on the market. These instruments will transform diagnosis and monitoring of a broad range of diseases, starting with the PM1 pachymeter currently undergoing clinical trials and reaching the market later this year, expanding to myopia management in mid-2024 with the AX1 axial length meter, and providing the first truly non-contact blood glucose monitoring system for people with diabetes in 2025. Longer-term clinical targets already under investigation include retinal blood flow measurements and fluorescence lifetime imaging to diagnose and monitor a broad range of diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia and sepsis.
Occuity’s ocular measurement systems build on the company’s internationally patented technology (nine granted patents with a further six patents pending), which is continuing to expand. Occuity’s technology portfolio includes a broad range of optical techniques, such as confocal methods, polarisation-sensitive methods, low coherence interferometry, fluorescence spectrometry, speckle-based techniques, time-correlated single photon counting and a comprehensive set of optical design, user feedback and real-time analysis methods, including ergonomic and data presentation methods to best facilitate use by clinical practitioners. This cutting-edge technology portfolio is enhanced by a wide network of academic collaborations, including with Edinburgh, Durham, Newcastle, City, Reading, Aston, Portsmouth and Ulster universities.
