Seeing the Future: How Occutrack is Revolutionizing Vision Care for AMD Patients

In today’s world, screen time has become inseparable from our daily routines. From work to entertainment, we are constantly engaging with digital devices, which places significant strain on our eyes.

What if screen time could be used to assess eye health?

Occutrack’s innovative eye movement tracking system makes this possible.

Vision is central to our quality of life, and its loss can have devastating effects on personal independence, well-being, and mental health. Among the leading causes of visual impairment is Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), a condition that progressively deteriorates central vision, affecting millions globally.

*Stages of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)*

In 2020, an estimated 1.85 million people were blind due to AMD, with another 6.23 million suffering from moderate to severe visual impairment (MSVI). With the number of those affected rising, new technologies in early detection and treatment are essential in helping individuals preserve their sight. Occutrack, a cutting-edge medtech company led by CEO Mark Wong, is at the forefront of this battle. Through their pioneering eye movement tracking system, Occutrack aims to transform how AMD patients manage their condition, offering remote solutions for monitoring and treatment.

A Vision for the Future: Mark Wong’s Journey

Mark Wong’s background in biomedical engineering and biooptics positioned him perfectly for a role in advancing eye health technologies. But it was the onset of COVID-19 that accelerated his involvement with Occutrack. As remote healthcare became more necessary, Wong and his team collaborated with Tan Tock Seng Hospital under the leadership of Professor Laude Augustinus to develop a system designed to track eye movement and monitor visual deterioration.

“The hypothesis was simple,” says Wong. “Patients with healthy central vision can intuitively follow a target on the screen, while those with impaired vision lose sight of it. Vision loss is debilitating, and we wanted to make eye tests as painless and easy as possible.”

With the goal of preventing blindness, Occutrack was born—a system aimed at transforming eye care, making it accessible and convenient for patients to monitor their vision from home.

Breaking Barriers: From Prototype to Breakthrough

One of the biggest hurdles Wong and his team faced in developing Occutrack was cost. “Our biggest challenge was ensuring the system was affordable for home use,” Wong explains. Initial prototypes relied on commercial eye-trackers, which were prohibitively expensive for widespread adoption. To overcome this, Occutrack developed its own camera technology and AI algorithms, removing the need for third-party hardware.

The result is a robust, home-based monitoring system that is not only affordable but also highly accurate. Seamless home-based monitoring on any computer PC or laptop now allows patients to take vision tests from the comfort of their own homes, with real-time results available for both themselves and their healthcare providers.

Revolutionizing Care for AMD Patients

What makes Occutrack truly revolutionary is its potential to change how AMD is managed. Currently, patients with AMD require frequent in-person visits to monitor their condition, a process that can be both physically and mentally taxing. Occutrack’s AI-powered system allows for remote monitoring, enabling timely interventions and reducing the need for unnecessary clinic visits.

“Our technology allows for self-administered vision tests with real-time results,” Wong says. “Patients can reduce clinic visits, and clinicians gain better insights into disease progression, enabling them to intervene before further vision loss occurs.”

By tracking the optokinetic motion of a patient’s gaze in response to generated patterns, Occutrack delivers highly precise data. This, in turn, allows for more personalized treatment plans and reduces the burden of injections—currently the main treatment for AMD.

Looking Ahead: Milestones and Expanding Applications

With the next year set to bring significant milestones, Occutrack is focused on gaining regulatory approval and market introduction for its CRYSTALSIGHT technology. “We are looking for visionary investors who share our passion for improving eye health,” Wong notes. Their next interventional study is already undergoing approvals, and the team is confident in its potential to gain widespread clinical acceptance.

Beyond AMD, the company has its sights set on other vision-related conditions. Diabetic Macular Edema (DME), which shares similar monitoring and treatment regimens as AMD, is their next target. “Our technology could become the ‘glucometer’ for eye health, allowing patients to monitor and manage various visual conditions from home,” Wong says.

Eye-Tracking in the Future of Medicine

Wong believes the potential for eye-tracking technology in medicine goes beyond just vision care. As screen-based technology becomes more integrated into our lives, eye-tracking could serve as a long-term assessment tool, quietly monitoring visual health as users go about their daily routines. “Early detection and treatment lead to better outcomes,” Wong emphasizes, hinting at a future where AI-driven eye-tracking could revolutionize not just treatment, but the early detection of visual impairments across the board.

Advice for Aspiring Innovators

As someone who has successfully led a MedTech startup through both challenges and breakthroughs, Wong offers this advice to future innovators: “Always establish the problem first. Make sure the problem is indeed a problem before developing a solution.” His pragmatic approach has clearly paid off, positioning Occutrack as a leader in the fight against vision loss.

A Brighter Future for Eye Health

In a world where vision is so integral to quality of life, technologies like Occutrack’s offer hope. By making eye tests more accessible, accurate, and affordable, Wong and his team are not just improving how we monitor conditions like AMD—they’re enhancing the lives of patients around the world. As Occutrack moves toward its next milestones, the future of eye care is looking clearer than ever.

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