EyeSense for Investors
Invest in the future of blood glucose monitoring
Invest in the future of blood glucose monitoring
- With around 537 Million diabetics and almost 1000 billion US dollars in costs for health care systems worldwide, diabetes mellitus is one of the most significant diseases known. Blood glucose self-monitoring constitutes a central aspect of therapy and a vital condition for reducing this economic burden. Not surprisingly, blood glucose monitoring represents the biggest share of the self-diagnostic market at approximately 19.3 billion US dollars.
- Building upon our unique, patented sensor technology, we are developing an affordable continuous blood glucose monitoring system that both fulfills customer expectations and has huge potential to increase the blood glucose monitoring market.
- We offer reliable, innovative, patented technology that sets us ahead of the competition.
- We have an experienced team, excellent partners and have won several awards.
Potential in the Diabetes Market
Currently
According to a publication of the International Diabetes Foundation (IDF), roughly 537 million people suffered from diabetes worldwide in 2021. By 2045, this figure will rise to roughly 783 million people. In emerging market and newly industrializing countries, an even greater rise in the number of diabetes cases is expected. In Southeast Asia, an increase of 68 % is expected and 134% in Africa. In industrialized countries like in America (US and Canada), roughly 51 million people, or 14 % of the total population, suffer from diabetes.
Worldwide, diabetes and related late-onset complications cost almost 1000 billion US dollars in 2021, 415 billion of which came about in North America and over 189 billion in Europe.
Blood glucose measuring devices
The market for conventional blood glucose measuring devices is growing at an annual rate of approximately 10.4 % and was, in 2020, about 19.3 billion US dollars. The market is dominated to more than 75 percent by the classic finger prick method where capillary blood is put on a test strip, which is then read using a measuring device. The market for conventional blood glucose measuring devices is dominated by manufacturers like Roche, Lifescan (Johnson & Johnson), Abbott and Ascensia, although most turnover is actually earned through the sales of the test strips.
In 2000, the first transcutaneous Continuous Glucose Monitoring System (CGMS) was put on the market (by Minimed, now part of Medtronic). This device could measure and save glucose values continually for 3 days. The values were only available at the end of the three-day period, though, after which therapy adjustments could then be checked, for example. Today, there are three transcutaneous and one subcutaneous implant system available that record continuously for up to 6 or 14 days (in case of the impant, 180 days with surgical procedures to insert and remove the implant) and provide patients with data in real time: Dexcom (G6®), Abbott (Freestyle Libre 2®), Medtronic (Enlite®) and Senseonics (Eversense® XL implant).
Market for continuous blood glucose measuring devices
EyeSense GmbH’s FiberSense system improves measuring precision and can significantly lower the costs for both patients and health care systems. Continuous blood glucose monitoring systems will thus not only gain a disproportionately large part of the market, but the FiberSense system will be the driving force behind this development, benefitting considerably from it.
Moreover, the FiberSense technology has the potential to regulate insulin pumps automatically via continuous blood glucose monitoring – which basically means replacing the patient’s own, defective pancreas with an artificial one.
Diabetes: Symptoms & Customer Needs
Diabetes
Diabetes Mellitus, or simply Diabetes, is a collective term for a variety of metabolic disorders which all lead to uncontrolled blood glucose levels. Diabetes is mostly chronic and is caused by the inability of the pancreas to produce sufficient insulin, or by the body’s inability to effectively use the insulin that it produces.
Diabetes can be subdivided into three main categories:
Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease affecting the pancreas, meaning the body is no longer able to produce insulin. As a result, patients are dependent on injected insulin throughout their entire lives. Type 1 diabetes often develops suddenly and during youth. With the correct insulin therapy and strict regulation of blood glucose levels, a normal life is possible. The number of Type 1 diabetes affected patients continues to rise every year. Although the reasons for this are not yet fully understood, it is suspected that environmental causes, events in utero or viral infections may play a role.
Typ 2 Diabetes
Type 2 Diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. Patients do not react sufficiently to insulin produced by the body. Often, Type 2 diabetics can keep the disease under control via dietary measures and medication, thereby avoiding the need to inject insulin. In advanced cases, however, an insulin therapy may become necessary, along with monitoring blood glucose levels. The number of Type 2 diabetes affected patients continues to rise every year. Possible explanations are an increasingly aged population as well as contemporary economic development and its effects on eating habits, lifestyle and lack of physical activity.
Gestational diabetes
arises, as the name suggests, during pregnancy and is caused by insufficient insulin production during this period. Normally, gestational diabetes disappears after birth.
Treatment and late-onset complications
Too high or too low blood glucose values (hyperglycaemia/hypoglycaemia) can, in its acute form, result in coma. Particularly insulin-dependent diabetics are at risk of hypoglycaemic attacks. Hyperglycaemia over a long period leads to a series of diabetic late-onset complications such as cardiovascular problems (heart attack), kidney disease (kidney failure), blindness (diabetic retinopathy), nerve damage (neuropathy, sensation of pain, numbness), blood vessel damage with poor circulation, as well as reduced capacity for healing wounds and even the loss of extremities (diabetic foot).
It follows that the goal of any type of therapy is to control blood glucose and to keep it at a normal level using suitable measures. Depending on the particular form of diabetes, this translates into a special diet, medication or insulin injections.
The continuous blood glucose monitoring system from EyeSense was designed to make blood glucose regulation easier, more comfortable and safer!
Customer needs
Although blood glucose values can vary greatly both day and night and even within the space of an hour, the unpleasantness of finger-pricking hinder many from checking their values more often: not only is the lancing procedure itself painful, but, for some, the fingers may constantly hurt, or the finger tips may become numb. On the other hand, skipping measurements brings with it the worrying risk of hypoglycaemia or even coma.
Overcoming these barriers would – in combination with suitable insulin doses and conscientious living – make it much easier to keep the blood glucose curve within a range comparable to that of a non-diabetic and would help avoid symptoms. For many years, experts have been striving to develop a blood glucose
measuring principle that fulfils customers’ desire for a blood- and pain-free process.
Most attempts until now have failed due to
- Too little measuring precision
- Too little glucose specificity
- Too much cost for users
Our innovative technology has made it possible for us to overcome these problems and meet customer needs with our continuous fiber sensor.
Continuous Glucose Sensor
Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) delivers automatic continual blood glucose values and informs the patient when values are critical (hyper- and hypoglycaemia) – even before they get that far – which helps to improve the patients’ quality of life and sense of security. The first prototypes are showing very good clinical results. The long-term aim is the (semi-) automatic regulation of an insulin pump for diabetes patients.
Investors already on board
Our parent company EyeSense AG is based in Basel, Switzerland, and was founded in February 2006 as a spin off from Novartis and CIBA Vision. Among its investors are: BioMedinvest and Life Sciences Partners, Rosetta Capital, Lee’s Pharmaceutical Holding, Bayern Kapital and Qiagen as well as other institutional and private investors.
Operational activities take place in the German headquarters in Großostheim near Frankfurt am Main.
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