Print“With diabetes reaching epidemic levels around the world, there is a critical need for new technologies for early detection and monitoring of the condition.”
Medical device company Freedom Meditech received $7 million in new financing to advance commercialization of its new non-invasive eye scanner capable of detecting diabetes early enough to intervene and hopefully prevent the disease from progressing to full-blown diabetes.
“With diabetes reaching epidemic levels around the world, there is a critical need for new technologies for early detection and monitoring of the condition,” says Craig Misrach, CEO of Freedom Meditech.
The device has potential to change standard optometry visits, says Misrach. More than 100 million eye exams are performed in the United States annually and more than half of diabetes-related deaths occur in those under the age of 60. “The eye-care provider is a gatekeeper for people within the age range when adult onset diabetes typically presents,” he says.
The table-top device helps physicians tailor treatment to a patient's individual condition, bringing a personalized approach to the prevention and treatment of diabetes.
The non-invasive device uses a blue light of one wavelength to scan the eye lens and measure the amount of light of a different wavelength that returns to the detector. The light emitted from the eye in a particular wavelength that appears blue-green, termed autofluorescence, provides a measurable indicator of the amount of glucose-linked proteins built up in the eye’s lens as a result of poor glucose regulation in the rest of the body. Elevated lens autofluorescence may be an early indicator of diabetes.
Nearly 371 million people around the world have diabetes, and more than 100 million Americans either have the disease or are pre-diabetic, costing an estimated $250 billion annually in the United States alone. Complications of diabetes can be avoided with early disease detection and intervention.
Freedom Meditech’s ClearPath DS-120, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in early 2013 and launched in June, is a first-in-class tool that could be used more broadly and quickly than the standard fasting glucose blood test. That ¬blood test requires 24 hours and creates biohazard waste. Freedom Meditech’s device performs an eye scan in less than eight seconds, returns results immediately, and can transmit them to an electronic health records system or a referral healthcare provider. The scan does not require pupil dilation.
The Series B financing, backed by a syndicate of investors that included returning JumpStart Ventures and undisclosed new participants, will also support clinical development of the company’s non-invasive handheld glucose meter for diabetics.
August 09, 2013
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-faster_cheaper_earlier_diabetes_test_gets_7m_boost.html
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