OcuSciences Announces Publication of Study Showing Novel Flavoprotein Fluorescence Measure Is Increased in Inherited Retinal Dystrophies

OcuSciences’ flagship device, OcuMet Beacon, detects higher flavoprotein fluorescence (FPF) in patients with inherited retinal dystrophies than their age-matched controls

ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OcuSciences, Inc., a medical device company developing retinal imagers to detect early disease by assessing retinal metabolic activity, today announced the publication of a rare inherited mitochondrial diseases study in Ophthalmology Genetics journal. These findings suggest that the novel FPF measure can differentiate between patients diagnosed with inherited retinal dystrophies and their age-matched controls. Furthermore, the FPF results correlated with fundus autofluorescence findings, suggesting clinical utility of the rapid, automated measure.

This observational study, led by Elias Traboulsi, M.D., M.Ed., Director of the Center for Genetic Eye Diseases at Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute, included 157 patients with genetically confirmed rod-cone dystrophy, Stargardt disease, Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS), and Mitochondrial ATP synthase mutation. Patients were imaged with the OcuMet Beacon, OcuSciences’ flagship functional retinal imager, between January and December 2021 to capture and quantify their FPF signal. Mean FPF intensity and heterogeneity was significantly higher in patients with inherited retinal dystrophies than age-matched controls.

“These findings suggest that flavoprotein fluorescence could be used as an additional tool in the assessment and diagnosis of patients with inherited retinal dystrophies,” said Dr. Traboulsi. “More studies are needed that will help elucidate how this imaging modality could be implemented clinically and if there are opportunities to use FPF as a monitoring tool in these types of diseases.”

The OcuMet Beacon is an automated, rapid retinal imager that assesses mitochondrial function by interrogating flavoproteins. The device emits a very specific wavelength of light that selectively excites flavoproteins in retinal mitochondria that are dysfunctional and hence cannot efficiently produce ATP. The flavoproteins in dysfunctional mitochondria emit a specific wavelength that the device then captures and quantifies. Mitochondrial dysfunctional has been documented as a precursor to apoptosis, or cell death.

The OcuMet Beacon is currently being used under Institutional Review Board at Cole Eye Institute.

About OcuSciences, Inc.

OcuSciences, Inc., is a commercial-stage biotechnology company developing retinal imagers to identify metabolic dysfunction occurring in the retina for the early detection of disease. Its flagship device, the OcuMet Beacon, has being developed to automatically and non-invasively assess retinal metabolic function by detecting the degree of flavoprotein fluorescence (FPF), a well-studied precursor to retinal cell death, in a patient’s eye. OcuSciences has shown preliminary clinical utility in a number of different disease states, including diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration. Learn more at www.ocusciences.com.