Eyenuk, a global artificial intelligence (AI) digital health company, has received United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance to use the Topcon NW400 retinal camera with its EyeArt AI system to automatically detect diabetic retinopathy (DR), adding to the already-cleared usage with Canon CR-2 AF and Canon CR-2 Plus AF cameras.
The regulatory clearance of the EyeArt v2.2.0 system makes it the first and only AI system that is FDA-cleared for use with multiple retinal cameras by different manufacturers. This clearance builds upon the EyeArtsystem’s launch in August 2020 as the first and only AI technology to be cleared by the FDA to detect both more-than-mild and vision-threatening DR. In the European Union, the EyeArt system is the first and only AI system approved under MDR Class IIb to detect DR, age-related macular degeneration, and glaucomatous optic nerve damage, in a single test.
Since its launch in global markets, the EyeArt system has been used by hundreds of clinics to enable safe and reliable eye screening for over 230,000 patients with diabetes and counting.
EyeArt v2.2.0 (is)… the first and only AI system that is FDA-cleared for use with multiple retinal cameras by different manufacturers
“I am particularly thrilled about this clearance as it showcases our extraordinary commitment towards our mission to screen every eye in the world to ensure timely diagnosis of life- and vision-threatening diseases,” said Kaushal Solanki, PhD, Founder and CEO of Eyenuk.
This latest FDA clearance for the EyeArt v2.2.0 system is based on clinical data from a prospective multi-centre clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT04984200) that demonstrated exceptional performance for the Topcon NW400 cameras, as summarised below.
- 94.4% sensitivity and 91.1% specificity for more-than-mild DR detection, and
- 96.8% sensitivity and 91.6% specificity for vision-threatening DR detection.
Upgraded Image Quality
Additionally, with this clearance, the EyeArt system gets an upgraded image quality assessment module and Eyenuk’s proprietary Real-Time Image Quality Feedback solution. These enhancements improve the EyeArtsystem’s usability, achieving the best-in-class gradability (i.e., percentage of patients with conclusive reports) without the need for dilation.
In the clinical trial, for all camera models (Canon CR-2 AF, Canon CR-2 Plus AF, and Topcon NW400) conclusive EyeArt results were available for 90.4% of cases without needing dilation and for 99% of cases when a small fraction was dilated after the quality feedback solution recommended dilation.
“I am excited that we are bringing several patient- and clinic-friendly product updates to the market through this clearance,” said Malavika Bhaskaranand, Head of Regulatory and Clinical Affairs for Eyenuk. “Real-Time Image Quality Feedback can significantly improve the clinical workflows associated with diabetic eye exams, and achieving best-in-class gradability implies much better patient experience and saving of clinic staff time that otherwise would have been spent on dilation.”