The funding package will help health tech company Siloton to further develop its Akepa optical coherence tomography (OCT) chip technology and bring a version of the device for researchers to market in 2025.
Later this year, the company is aiming to deliver a world first by capturing the first chip-based OCT image of a living eye in a commercial setting, which is a key milestone for its future use by clinicians.
Evenlode Impact Investments committed further capital in the latest round alongside members of the South East Angels, the Francis Crick Institute, and other angel investors. Non-dilutive funding from an Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst grant takes total funding in Siloton so far to £1.7m.
Siloton’s technology aims to make the diagnosis and monitoring of treatable retinal diseases more affordable and accessible, by compressing a tabletop-worth of heavy, expensive, and fragile components onto a single chip. The technology could save the NHS over £1bn annually and allow patients to monitor their condition at home.
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Conditions such as wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), retinal vein occlusion, and diabetic macular oedema affect millions of people worldwide, putting them at risk of blindness. In the UK, AMD is the largest cause of sight loss, according to the Macular Society, with around 39,800 people developing wet AMD each year.
In a statement, Dr Alasdair Price, CEO of Siloton, said: “This new support will help us take the next step towards commercialisation by shifting gear from R&D to product development.
“The population of individuals with retinal disease is growing. New, more affordable and accessible OCT systems like our Akepa technology will be critical to serving patients with precision and efficiency. In turn, this could help reduce preventable blindness, save healthcare providers billions of pounds, and reduce pressure on already stretched eye clinics.
“We are on the cusp of a significant milestone with our technology and look forward to sharing this in the not-too-distant future.”
Siloton describes Akepa as comprising over 300 optical and electronic elements. With approximately 70 per cent of the OCT system on-chip, it is at the same level of integration as will be required in the final product.
Akepa was fabricated in a commercial foundry and can be manufactured in high volume, making it inexpensive to produce. The company added that their OCT chip is highly scalable, reconfigurable and robust against vibrations and other environmental stresses.
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