DiagnosTear’s TeaRx™ technology is a diagnostic platform intended for diagnosis of disease in the frontal areas of the eye through examination of a number of substances in the composition of teardrops. The first indication is for identification, personal matching and monitoring of dry eye syndrome (DES).
TeaRx™ technology is based on a minute sample of tear fluid taken with a unique, single-use collecting device and examined through a number of tests developed by DiagnosTear.
The text provides semi-quantitative color reactions, depending on the concentration of specific substances in the tear fluid and whereby a tear fluid problem can be indicated. The biodegradable one-time test is performed at the physician’s ophthalmologist’s clinic.
DiagnosTear’s Market
Dry Eye Syndrome (DES) is a common disorder in which there is a decline in tear production or tear quality is impaired. Moderate and severe DES may cause pain and discomfort, and impair vision quality. In extreme cases, DES may even cause permanent blindness. Some 340 million people worldwide have DES, including some 40 million in the United States. Symptoms associated with DES account for about one third of patients’ complaints to ophthalmologists in the United States.
Despite its widespread prevalence, DES is complex and difficult to diagnose and treat since it may be caused by many underlying factors, resulting in diverse and distributed sub-populations suffering from the syndrome. Tear fluid is composed of a great many substances and a change in their concentration indicates a problem with the quality or volume of tears that causes the syndrome.
There is significant need for accurate, fast and easy-to-use diagnostic tools, which will help clinicians with on-site diagnosis of DES and distinction between various DES sub-populations.
In addition, there is a real need in the market to develop a diagnostic tool that will differentiate between groups of patients already in the phase of DES drug development, and will allow distinction between “responders” and “non-responders” to the various drugs which would enable pharmaceutical companies to significantly increase the chances of approval of the drug and significantly reduce their development costs.
DiagnosTear is also working on additional groundbreaking developments in the diagnosis of different eye diseases.
The Benefits
The test is economical, fast, easy to use and will be able to identify the cause of DES and allow any physician ophthalmologist to tailor treatment to patients.
The TeaRx™ test can be used both as a diagnostic tool for specific treatment or as a standalone diagnostic tool.