Bulbitech revolutionises eye and neurological disease diagnostics and care

Serious eye and neurological diseases cause enormous suffering around the world. Take glaucoma, for instance, the world’s leading cause of irreversible blindness. Some 79 million people have glaucoma globally, and about half of them don’t know they are affected.

Similarly dire statistics are found for neurological disorders. The prevalence of Parkinson’s disease, for example, has more than doubled since year 2000.

“Early analysis of our clinical trial results between Parkinson’s patients and healthy subjects look very promising, but we have to wait for our research partner to publish the results,” Hens states on the importance of validating Bulbitech’s technology.

Bulbitech’s eye-tracking technology enables doctors to identify, diagnose, and monitor eye and neurological diseases. In ophthalmology, the solution supports the diagnosis of glaucoma, cataract, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy. In neurology, it supports the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and Ataxia.

“Unfortunately, many patients see their doctors far too late. By the time a patient notices symptoms, such as blurry vision, structural damage could already occur. Our technology identifies functional loss, which occurs before structural damage. No other solution is able to detect potential disease at such an early stage,” explains Hens.

Studies are underway to expand the range of diseases that can be diagnosed. As of today, Bulbitech offers 15 measurement functions and has identified over 30 biomarkers, which are also very applicable in pharmacology.

The solution consists of two main components. First, BulbiCAM is an AI-powered, medically certified eye tracker. Video-based, it takes snapshots of the eye 400 times per second. Second, BulbiHUB is a cloud-based platform that assesses the data measured by BulbiCAM and can integrate other data from third-party medical devices.

Read more: New studies confirm the BulbiCAM Pupil test’s reliability and precision in eye and brain health

Bulbitech helps to improve the prognosis for thousands of patients afflicted with serious disease – not only through early diagnosis but also through continual patient monitoring.

“The solution is based on the medical finding that deviation in eye movements and pupillary response can detect neurological and ophthalmological diseases. Our technology measures such deviation, and these results can be compared over time,” explains Hens.

While at the cutting edge of medical advancement, the testing device itself is simple, safe and non-invasive. The patient wears a headset for about one minute per test, making it accessible to all types of patients, including those who are frail and elderly.

Moreover, the tests are easily administered by anyone who has undergone two days of training, saving doctors time and lowering exam costs for patients.

The global diagnostic testing market is estimated at USD 180 billion and is projected to reach USD 349 billion by 2030. “Bulbitech taps into two major markets: ophthalmology and neurology. This is a huge advantage for our growth. We believe we can sell more than 25 000 units worldwide,” says Hens.

Clinical studies on the first tests are now complete and the results are ready for publication. After publication, Bulbitech will apply for approval from the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in the US. Several countries in Europe are already using the technology, including the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Croatia and Norway.

Bulbitech partners with internationally recognised medical institutions such as the Institute of Optometry and Vision Sciences in Cardiff, UK, and Oslo University Hospital in Norway.