INVESTMENTS
KERALUX
Radiation facility for the treatment of the eye disease keratoconus
The first innovation which is being prepared for spin-out into a separate company to accelerate its global marketing is KERALUX (for product details go to this link). Interested investors may register here to make an investment as well as request more detailed information.
KERALUX was designed for the treatment of keratoconus. This progressing disease leads to severe vision deterioration and in many cases to de facto blindness. KERALUX may prevent disease progression and preserve a patient’s vision.
Epidemiology
In Europe, between 1 out of 2000 inhabitants and 1 out of 1000 inhabitants suffers from keratoconus. In other regions of the world, this disorder is even more common. Especially in the Near East/Middle East, its frequency is in the single-digit range, and in endemic areas sometimes even in the double-digit range. As diagnostic methods improve, the relative incidence rate among the population in industrialised countries is increasing. The crosslinking technique is used to prevent disease progression and avoid de facto blindness. Treatment should therefore be initiated early, ideally at the onset of the disease, when visual acuity is still relatively good. The age when the first symptoms occur is usually between 10 and 30 years. The disease often deteriorates rapidly in the teenage years, so that patients are often already de facto blind before they reach the age of 20. Unfortunately, the stabilising effect of the crosslinking technique often lasts only 5 years and then has to be repeated.
Based on the epidemiological figures, the number of treatments requiring medical treatment can be estimated as follows:
This table calculates with only 1 ill person out of 2000 inhabitants. Real figures are in fact about twice as high. Additionally, the calculation is not based on two affected eyes per patient, but on 1.8 eyes on average, as the disease - which is invariably present in both eyes, does not always affect both eyes. However, there is broad consensus among experts that, especially in very young patients (teenagers), the eye not yet affected by the disease should also be treated. The reason for this recommendation is that the disease is very likely to affect the second eye as well, resulting in vision deterioration.
Outlook
To disseminate and implement this treatment we plan a spin-off of the technology into a new company 2022.
The project is supported by the globally leading ophthalmic specialists in the field.