Video retinal imaging firm eyes growth after €1.1m Danish deal
A FIFE company is collaborating with two Danish partners in a €1.1 million project to help detect the build-up of pressure around the brain, which can be lethal if not treated.
Epipole, based in Inverkeithing, said the partners aimed to develop a non-invasive way to detect intracranial pressure. This is growing pressure inside the skull, typically as the result of a brain injury or other medical condition.
“Undiagnosed, untreated high intracranial pressure is a killer condition,” said Epipole founder and chief executive Craig Robertson. “If you sustain a head injury, the thing that will kill you will be the increase in pressure inside your skull. But it’s quite hard to detect.”
Intracranial pressure is typically diagnosed via a spinal tap – lumbar puncture – which involves running a needle into the spine to sample the fluid and look at the pressure.
“It’s ultra-invasive and also expensive,” Mr Robertson said.
Epipole’s technology is a handheld retinal imaging device that takes video of the back of the eye. This sets it apart from typical ophthalmoscopes – instruments for inspecting the interior of the eye – which take a flash photograph.
“Because we can take full speed video with our cameras, we can look at the blood flow through the eye. This then allows us to work out directly what the pressure is inside the head.”
Epipole’s technology, called epicam, will be integrated with artificial intelligence software from Statumanu ICP, a medical devices company in greater Copenhagen that specialises in the non-invasive measurement of intracranial pressure.
The other partner is the University of Southern Denmark, which will conduct a clinical study to assess the effectiveness of the solution after the two companies integrate their technology.
The project is being funded by
Eureka Eurostars, a European programme for small and medium-sized businesses to collaborate on research and development projects that create
innovative products, processes or services.
Statumanu says its artificial intelligence software uses images of the blood vessels in the retina to instantly assess intracranial pressure and continuously monitor changes.
Jakob Find Madsen, founder and chief executive of Statumanu ICP, said his company had reviewed all the available retinal cameras on the market and found Epipole to be the ideal partner for this project.
“As a lightweight, handheld camera that also shoots high resolution video, epicam has all the capabilities needed to make this innovative system a success,” Mr Madsen added.
Mr Robertson said research groups around the world were now using
Epipole’s technology to look for diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
“The most exciting thing about this technology is the relationship between the eye and whole body health,” Mr Robertson said. “We can see a lot of whole body diseases like high blood pressure and cholesterol in the eye – and that’s where the future of this company will be.”
Last June, Epipole raised £1.5 million in new funding to prepare for a push into the United States ophthalmic imaging market.
The funding was led by Londonbased investment company Greenwood Way Capital, with the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise.
Mr Roberson studied mathematics at Coventry and Birmingham universities before working as a researcher in artificial intelligence at the University of Edinburgh.
He moved into medical devices at Optos, the Dunfermline-based retinal scanning specialist, where he helped to prototype new products.
“I was predisposed to work in ophthalmology because, as a young person, I’d seen my grandmother go blind due to diabetic complications,” Mr Robertson said.
He set up Epipole in 2011 with Bob Henderson, an award-winning retinal imaging expert who was involved in the design of Optos’s technology.
Optos was sold to Nikon in 2015 for £259m.
Undiagnosed, untreated high intracranial pressure is a killer condition