Eyenuk, Inc. Expands into Germany with Launch of EyeArt® Artificial Intelligence Eye Screening for Diabetic Retinopathy

Eyenuk, Inc. announces its expansion into Germany with the adoption of EyeArt® artificial intelligence (AI) technology for the screening of diabetic retinopathy at Diabetes Center Mergentheim in Bad Mergentheim, Germany. The center is the first dedicated diabetic clinic in Germany to use artificial intelligence for screening of diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of vision loss in working-age adults⁽¹⁾.

The EyeArt system utilizes artificial intelligence and Deep Learning to autonomously read retinal images and screen for diabetic retinopathy in under 60 seconds. It is estimated that one-third of all patients with diabetes will develop the blinding-eye disease⁽²⁾, and that the worldwide incidence of diabetic retinopathy will rise to 191 million people by 2030⁽³⁾. In Germany, diabetic retinopathy causes nearly 2,000 new cases of blindness each year⁽⁴⁾. Eyenuk is committed to deploy its EyeArt system globally and aims to eliminate instances of preventable blindness.

“We are gratified to see the global adoption for the EyeArt system and the opportunity that the technology offers to primary care and diabetes clinics,” said Kaushal Solanki, president and CEO of Eyenuk. “The EyeArt system will enable millions of patients to be screened in real time for early disease detection, and be expeditiously identified for referral to a vision specialist.”

The vast majority of patients with diabetes who develop diabetic retinopathy have no symptoms until damage to their vision is irreversible. While annual ophthalmic screening is recommended for all those with diabetes, even in the developed world, typically less than half get screened. Adding to this is the limited number of ophthalmologists, healthcare providers with a retinal (fundus) camera, and a historical delay in ophthalmologist appointments for screening or remote image reading.

“Until now, we’ve had to encourage our patients to see an ophthalmologist for annual diabetic retinopathy screening,” said Professor Dr. med. Thomas Haak, medical director, Diabetes Center Bad Mergentheim. “However, because the disease shows no symptoms until it’s nearly too late, many are putting off that screening visit. Now with the EyeArt system deployed in our clinic, we can directly screen our diabetes patients on-site for this blinding disease, and possibly save the vision of many who otherwise would have gone undetected.”

ABOUT THE EYEART SYSTEM

The EyeArt system has received a CE marking in the European Union and a Medical Device License from Health Canada.

The EyeArt system utilizes artificial intelligence and deep learning to rapidly and autonomously review images taken of a patient’s retina by the provider’s own choice of fundus camera. During the patient’s visit, retinal images are analyzed by the secure HIPAA-compliant cloud-based EyeArt system, and within 60 seconds, the physician is sent a screening report for referable and vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy.

VIDEO: See How the EyeArt System Performs Eye Screening for Diabetic Retinopathy

The EyeArt system has been validated on one of the largest data sets of patient cases of any available diabetic retinopathy screening technology, in demanding, real-world settings using images captured in everyday practice. In a clinical study of over 100,000 consecutive patient visits from the EyePACS Telescreening Program, the EyeArt system (version 2.0) was found to have a sensitivity and specificity rate of over 91% in identifying patients with referable diabetic retinopathy⁽⁵⁾.

The reporting, which uses internationally recognized standards, such as the UK’s NHS Diabetic Eye Screening Programme (NDESP) and the International Clinical Diabetic Retinopathy Disease Severity Scale (ICDR), indicates whether any diabetic retinopathy, referable retinopathy, or vision-threatening retinopathy is detected. Additionally, the level of retinopathy on ICDR or NDESP scale is also reported for each eye.

In the United States, the EyeArt system is limited by federal law to investigational use only and is not available for sale.

ABOUT EYENUK, INC.

Eyenuk, Inc., headquartered in Los Angeles, California, is an AI diagnostic company focused on quickly and accurately identifying patients suffering from potentially blinding eye diseases and chronic diseases at the point of care. Using computer vision and artificial intelligence expertise, the company is developing a portfolio of products based on its proprietary retinal image analysis technology combined with deep learning to identify and track the progression of diseases including diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, risk of stroke, cardiovascular risk, and Alzheimer’s disease.

EyeArt is a registered trademark of Eyenuk, Inc.

www.eyenuk.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClpK-To5-z5cQIFpSbACprA
https://www.linkedin.com/company/eyenuk-llc/

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^1.Prokofyeva E, Zrenner E. Epidemiology of major eye diseases leading to blindness in Europe: a literature review. Ophthalmic Res. 2012;47:171–188.
^2.Yau JW, Rogers SL, Kawasaki R, Lamoureux EL, Kowalski JW, Bek T, et al. Global prevalence and major risk factors of diabetic retinopathy. Diabetes Care. 2012;35:556–64.
^3.International Diabetes Federation. Diabetes atlas, 6th ed, Brussels, Belgium. 2015.
^4.DIabetesDE.org. Accessed Oct. 1, 2018.
^5.Solanki et al., “Validation of EyeArt Automated Diabetic Retinopathy Screening System on large cohort of mydriatic and non-mydriatic telescreening data from EyePACS.” ARVO 2017, Baltimore, MD.

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Contact information

Capwell Communications
Ramune Carothers, 949-999-3303
ramune@capwellcomm.com