Kubota Vision Announces Collaboration Agreement with Leading Diabetes Center

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Kubota Vision Inc. (“Kubota Vision” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage specialty ophthalmology company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kubota Pharmaceutical Holdings Co., Ltd. (Tokyo 4596), announced today that the Company and Joslin Diabetes Center have entered into a material transfer and collaboration agreement for our 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 eye care 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., stated, “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.”

^*1 OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) is a non-invasive tool that uses light waves to take cross-section pictures of the retina.

About PBOS

PBOS is a low cost, home-based, ophthalmic self-monitoring OCT device. This small handheld device addresses needs in mobile Health (mHealth^*2) applications for self-monitoring of retina health by patients, in the home and in remote field locations. The PBOS aims to improve ophthalmic treatment outcomes in patients diagnosed with and treated for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic macular edema (DME) and other neovascular retinal diseases. PBOS is being designed to detect nascent disease progression and support patient re-treatment prior to irreversible vision loss due to disease progression. Key features are low cost and a patient-friendly design, to be used directly by patients at home. PBOS is being designed to capture changes in retinal anatomy. Network connectivity and cloud-based technologies are used to alert the patients and their physicians of disease progression and re-treatment needs.

^*2 mHealth refers to the usage of mobile communications technology and devices to enhance access to healthcare information, improve distribution of routine and emergency health services, and provide diagnostic services.

About Kubota Vision Inc.

Kubota Vision Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kubota Pharmaceutical Holdings Co., Ltd. (Tokyo 4596), committed to translating innovation into a diverse portfolio of drugs and devices to preserve and restore vision for millions of people worldwide. Kubota Pharmaceutical group’s pipeline includes a wearable device for myopia control using Kubota Glass^TM technology and a handheld OCT device for the monitoring of neovascular retinal diseases, to be used directly by patients. https://www.kubotavision.com/; https://www.kubotaholdings.co.jp/en/

Cautionary Statements: https://www.kubotaholdings.co.jp/en/1/index.html

“Kubota Vision,” the Kubota Vision logo and “Kubota” are registered trademarks or trademarks of Kubota Vision Inc. or Kubota Pharmaceutical Holdings in various jurisdictions.

Contacts

Media and Investor Relations Contact:
Mikio Fukai

Corporate Planning Division

Phone: +81-3-6550-8928

Email: [email protected]