Exciting first results from Occuity ‘SD1’ diabetes screening prototype

Presentation of Internal Results on Investigating Effectiveness of SD1 Prototype to Identify Markers to Screen for Diabetes

Occuity has been looking at the measurement of biomarkers in the eye to screen for and diagnose diabetes for some time, but with the support provided by the recent winning of an InnovateUK Biomedical Catalyst grant, we’ve been able to accelerate this project. The timeline of this grant-funded section of the project was to undertake the development of the new meter by the end of this year and then perform some small-scale tests to see how well the technology could see markers in the eye that relate to a person’s diabetic state.

Impressively, and ahead of schedule, the team have already managed to collect some first data on a handful of eyes, which Occuity has now released and can be downloaded below.

Project lead and Chief Optical Engineer, James Reynolds, said: “Although it must be emphasised that this is very much first data, and there isn’t much of it, we really couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome! The fact that we are seeing the expected consistent increase in signal with age underpins the theory behind the measurement and the significantly higher signal seen in the person with diabetes demonstrates that a) the difference is material and b) our technology can detect it.”

The fact we are seeing an increase in signal with age and the higher signal in the person with diabetes supports the measurement of AGEs in the eye

The blue points are from subjects without diabetes and the orange points are from the person with. It can be clearly seen that the AGE concentration of non-diabetic subjects increases consistently with age, but that of the diabetic subject is a clear outlier with a significantly larger signal level and therefore AGE concentration.

Highlighting that the purpose of this phase of the project was to demonstrate that our technology can detect this specific marker in the eye with the necessary sensitivity, Occuity CEO, Dr. Dan Daly commented: “Whilst we need to collect more data to get results that are statistically significant, this initial result indicates that we can open the door to either further grant funding or investor support to drive the project forwards. It also gives us a basis upon which to engage with the NHS, and other healthcare providers globally, to assess how best to integrate this new opportunity into the clinical pathways.”

And that last point is key. Occuity’s goal is to change the way the biggest healthcare problems are found and managed and early screening and diagnosis is at the heart of this goal. Currently, there is no widespread screening programme for diabetes – collectively, we simply wait until people get it and show symptoms before we begin to treat them.

Dan continued, “The result is that 1.5m – 2.0m people die every year due to the complications of diabetes and we want to stop that. The cornerstone of achieving that is prevention rather than just treatment, and the SD1 diabetes screening meter is how we intend to make that happen.”

A full report can be downloaded here:

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