Kubota Vision Inc. (“Kubota Vision” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage specialty ophthalmology company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kubota Pharmaceutical Holdings Co., Ltd. (Tokyo 4596), announced today that on January 17, 2022, the first patient has enrolled and completed the first visit in a prospective study in Japan using our Patient Based Ophthalmology Suite (PBOS), in-home optical coherence tomography (OCT*1) device.
The study is being led by Dr. Shozo Sonoda at Kagoshima Sonoda Eye Clinic and Plastic Surgery, targeting approximately 40 subjects for enrollment. The Company will loan its PBOS devices to generate data that will be used to improve the device. Dr. Sonoda is an experienced ophthalmologist specializing in cornea, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and vitreoretinal diseases. He is actively involved in the Japanese Ophthalmological Society, the Japan Ophthalmologists Association, the Japanese Retina and Vitreous Society, the Japanese Society for Ocular Circulation, the Japanese Society of Artificial Intelligence in Ophthalmology, the Japanese Society of Ophthalmic Surgery, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and the Japanese Society for Ocular Pharmacology.
Dr. Sonoda stated, “Innovative medical information and communication technology is in huge demand, especially for at-home healthcare. We believe that it will soon become possible to gather accurate medical data at home using high-performance yet scaled-down medical devices. These technologies provide a great number of potentials, but there are usability challenges to overcome before actual home-use implementation. The PBOS operates on the same principle as OCT devices used at hospitals but is developed so patients can operate it by themselves at home. We will evaluate the usage of the device by patients and hope to contribute our findings for further advancement in ophthalmology.”
Ryo Kubota, MD, PhD, Chairman, President and CEO of Kubota Vision Inc., stated, “We are grateful that Dr. Sonoda is interested in our OCT device and sees the potential advantages the device could offer. We have conducted multiple studies worldwide, and this will be the first where the device will be utilized for a study in Japan. I, as a Japanese, am proud and excited to share the new observations that will come about from this study in Japan.”
Source: Company Press Release
