- This round was led by DigitalDx Ventures and supported by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund
- Other investors include Desjardins Capital, Hike Ventures, Advisors Fund, MEDTEQ+ and Biomed Propulsion (participative debt)
- New funding will support the development of Optina’s Retinal Deep PhenotypingTM platform
- It will also support Optina’s pivotal study for the FDA regulatory submission of the awAIrTM cerebral amyloid status test for Alzheimer’s disease detection, aligning the platform with novel therapeutic approvals
Optina, an innovative diagnostics company, leader in Retinal Imaging, Brain Health and Systemic Disease detection, announced today the closing of a CA$24.8 million Series-A round of funding.
Optina’s Retinal Deep PhenotypingTM platform obtained FDA Breakthrough Device Designation status in 2019 for its non-invasive and more accessible test to improve diagnosis accuracy and the management of patients undergoing evaluation for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The Series A’s primary focus is to support the pivotal study for Optina’s awAIr TM cerebral amyloid status test when AD is suspected and will also support the platform development for early detection of systemic diseases.
“DigitalDx is honored to have led a successful round for Optina Diagnostics. At DigitalDx we believe the recent technological advances in health data capture enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) could dramatically impact our ability to diagnose illness earlier, potentially drastically improve patient outcomes and save our healthcare system billions of dollars and could redefine the way we create value in healthcare,” says Michele Colucci Founder & CEO of DigitalDx Ventures.
“The Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund recognizes the potential of the Optina technology for capturing a variety of data types at extremely high resolution through a possibly faster and simpler non-invasive eye scan. This technology could be tremendously valuable for advancing efforts in R&D biomarker development. We are excited that Optina will continue to develop their platform in multiple areas and strive to bring meaningful health outcomes for patients,” said Debbie Lin, Ph.D., Executive Director of Digital Health Investments, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund.
Funds will also be used to accelerate the deployment of additional clinical study sites with the installation of Optina’s Retinal Deep PhenotypingTM platform at leading institutions in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
“We are eager to put this investment to work. Optina is at the forefront of Systemic Diseases and Brain Health diagnosis and clinical experts are advocating for novel objective tools for early diagnosis and monitoring of at-risk patients for these underserved disease areas. This funding could allow us to make a significant difference by changing mindsets when it comes to Brain Health and hopefully ease millions of worried patients around the world by detecting the causes of their cognitive impairment and providing them access to novel therapeutics,” said David Lapointe, CEO Optina Diagnostics.
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