SEATTLE—Kubota Vision, a clinical-stage specialty ophthalmology company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kubota Pharmaceutical Holdings Co., announced last week that the company and Joslin Diabetes Center have entered into a material transfer and collaboration agreement for Kubota's Patient Based Ophthalmology Suite (PBOS), in-home optical coherence tomography (OCT*1) device. Joslin Diabetes Center is conducting two clinical studies to evaluate the ability of PBOS to identify cases of diabetic macular edema that may need treatment compared to a commercially-available OCT device.

The studies will be led by Dr. Paolo S. Silva at Joslin Diabetes Center. Dr. Silva is the co-chief of telemedicine at the Beetham Eye Institute of the Joslin Diabetes Center. His work is focused on innovative and investigative work in a field at the intersection of clinical care and technology with the hope of providing an ideal model for the delivery of evidence-based, highly effective, and efficient diabetes eyecare to the population that needs it the most.
 
Joslin Diabetes Center, which is affiliated with Harvard Medical School, is a one-of-a-kind institution on the front lines of the world epidemic of diabetes—leading the battle to conquer diabetes in all of its forms through cutting-edge research and innovative approaches to clinical care and education.
 
Dr. Silva stated, “Through these studies, we will determine if home-based, in-home optical coherence tomography is useful in the evaluation of diabetic macular edema and how we monitor patients at risk for losing vision from the condition.”
 
Ryo Kubota, MD, PhD, chairman, president and CEO of Kubota Vision Inc., commented, “Diabetic retinopathy is one of the most common diseases in the world. The use of our technology brings us great excitement as we continue to focus on the development of medical devices and explore further possibilities.”