Occuity lands grant to develop optical diabetes screening device – Longevity.Technology

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MedTech start-up Occuity has received a £343,000 Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst (BMC) Award to fund the next stage of the development of its innovative AGE reader: an optical medical device that will enable non-invasive screening of diabetes in non-clinical settings such as opticians and pharmacies.
Biomedical Catalyst is the flagship Innovate UK grant funding competition for supporting UK health & life sciences SMEs. It supports the development of innovative solutions to health and healthcare challenges by providing financial support to accelerate the route to commercialisation.
Longevity.Technology: With Type 2 diabetes (T2D) affecting 422 million people globally, the costs associated with diabetes-related complications to global health services are ~10% of all government health spending – unsustainable to the point that the WHO now classifies diabetes as a pandemic.
Early diagnosis is vital to enable the prevention and management of diabetes and pre-diabetes when it is relatively inexpensive with treatments such as healthier diets and increased physical activity. Whilst the IDF (International Diabetes Foundation) recommends wide screening of older people, T2D is increasing in younger adults and children, demonstrating a need for broad diabetes screening. However current techniques require an inconvenient blood test which can only be performed in a clinical setting. This means many people do not get tested until they present to their GP with full diabetes symptoms and/or are diagnosed as obese. Those who don’t suspect issues may never be tested.
To meet this need, Reading-based Occuity has designed an AGE reader, a device based on research that demonstrates the concentration of Advanced Glycation End-Products (AGEs) within the eye correlates to blood glucose levels and therefore the risk of diabetes.
The AGE reader will be a handheld, non-contact device that shines a blue light into the eye to illuminate the ocular lens and the returning scattered and fluorescent light from the AGEs will be detected and AGE levels and diabetes risk determined. Requiring no blood draws or patient fasting, Occuity is aiming for a device that is cheaper and faster than competing platforms. The device can also be used in a non-clinical environment, making it ideal for use in pharmacies, opticians or domiciliary environments such as care homes. Coupled with machine learning techniques, the readings from the device will aim to give a diagnosis of whether the subject is non-diabetic, pre-diabetic or diabetic.
READ MORE: Occuity – shining a light on health and longevity
Dan Daly, CEO and Co-founder of Occuity said: “The value of a more convenient way to screen for diabetes is clear. For the individual, early identification can help them take appropriate actions to avoid the worst effects of the disease whilst for health services, alongside the improved patient outcomes and quality of life, there is an added financial incentive.
“This grant will enable us to develop a benchtop device to demonstrate the technical advances and to make a functioning meter to provide a route forward to a commercially viable product.”
Samana Brannigan, Head of Health Technologies at Innovate UK said: “Biomedical Catalyst funding will support Occuity in their journey to commercialise and scale-up this cutting-edge technology and deliver further growth for the UK Life sciences Sector. The development of a portable, handheld, non-invasive device for use in non-clinical settings could contribute to proactive, person centric care in the community and lead to significant global opportunities.”
The project will start on 1st December 2022 and is projected to last 15 months. Advances in Occuity’s technology will also provide a platform for developing further screening devices to look at other biomarkers in the eye such as amyloid plaques, which are known as evidence of the presence of Alzheimer’s disease. With are nearly 10 million new cases every year, novel ways of screening for Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, are sorely needed, and a portable handheld scanner could be a gamechanger.
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