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Eyenuk Foresees Market Expansion With Funds

Eyenuk Inc. in Woodland Hills closed a $3 million funding round on May 1, according to the company. The medical device and software firm, which makes artificial intelligence-enabled solutions for the detection of eye diseases, plans to use the funds for expanding the commercialization of its flagship product EyeArt. “We are happy to have raised enough capital to take EyeArt to the next level,” Kaushal Solanki, founder and chief executive of Eyenuk, said in a statement. “With the capital from this financing, Eyenuk will be able to accelerate execution on its global commercialization strategy, leveraging its superior artificial intelligence technology.” Eyenuk has four screening tools that use machine learning and computer vision, a form of AI that allows computers to “see” the way humans do, to automate the process of elucidating signs of eye disease. Three of them – EyeArt, EyeMark and EyeApp – are specifically designed for use in patients with diabetic retinopathy, a complication of diabetes that damages blood vessels in the tissue at the back of the eye. EyeArt is an in-office, cloud-based software platform that uses AI to scan images for the purpose of finding lesions that warrant a referral to an ophthalmologist; EyeMark is a similar program that tracks the progression of eye disease; and EyeApp screens for signs of diabetic retinopathy through a mobile phone application. A fourth platform, EyeSeeAMD, is used to detect age-related macular degeneration, a condition in which the center of the retina deteriorates. The company holds patents for the technology behind all of the products. EyeArt has been approved for sale in the European Union and Canada; EyeMark, EyeApp and EyeSeeAMD have not. EyeArt is approved only for investigational use in the U.S. Valley Health Fair Coming off the back of its HealthX event at Glendale Adventist on April 20, the Valley Economic Alliance held its annual Health Expo and Career Fair at Los Angeles Valley College in Valley Glen on April 25. A couple hundred attendees turned out for the event, which was sponsored by Los Angeles Jewish Home, Costco Wholesale Corp. and Daily News. Health care providers were on site to offer free blood pressure, body mass index and HIV screenings as well as to network with college students and community members who are exploring careers in the industry. More than 100 businesses, nonprofit and health care providers staged exhibits, including Dignity Health Northridge Hospital, Eisner Health, Access Dental Health and Los Angeles Family Housing. $10 Million Placement Second Sight Medical Products Inc. in Sylmar has entered into a stock purchase agreement with its Chairman Gregg Williams for roughly 6.7 million shares. “This investment reflects my confidence in Second Sight’s team and their ability to execute our commercial strategy and advance important development and clinical programs,” Williams said in a statement. Priced at $1.48 a share, the net proceeds of the placement will be roughly $10 million, according to Second Sight. Funds from the investment will be used to further ongoing initiatives for two of the company’s products: a prosthetic cortex, called Orion, and a prosthetic retina called Argus II. Argus II is marketed in the U.S. and Europe, while clinical trials on Orion are currently underway. As a replacement for the retina, the Argus II can only restore blindness in patients who suffer from a disease called retinitis pigmentosa, while the Orion will be effective in working with a larger patient pool. Both devices work through a video camera mounted on a pair of glasses. The Argus II turns the images that come through the glasses into electrical pulses, which are picked up and transformed into a functional form of vision by electrodes implanted on the retina. The Orion works in a similar manner, but rather than being implanted on the retina, electrodes are planted on the visual cortex of a patient’s brain. The first human implant of the Orion was completed in February. Second Sight plans to use some of the funds from the private placement to complete patient enrollment in a feasibility study for the device and to continue conducting clinical trials, according to the company. Additionally, the money will be used to grow the number of medical centers where implants of the Argus II can take place as well as to pursue regulatory approvals to expand the patient population that qualifies for treatment. Staff reporter Helen Floersh can be reached at (818) 316-3121 or [email protected]

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