RightEye LLC, a health technology company using eye tracking to revolutionize vision performance and patient care, announced that it has acquired the exclusive rights to two internationally recognized eye movement tests that help doctors more accurately and objectively identify early stages of autism in children 12 to 40 months old, and aids in detecting Parkinson’s disease in patients of all ages. The tests, which are based on extensive clinical studies, help identify both disorders earlier and more accurately, which can lead to earlier and more appropriate intervention.
“RightEye has consistently pioneered the use of eye-tracking technology to help solve some of health care’s greatest challenges,” said Barbara Barclay, president of RightEye. “Acquiring these tests has implications that reach far beyond our business — as our eye movement technology platform will now enable parents, patients and providers to get the reliable and objective answers they need, when they need them, anywhere in the world, at a lower cost.”
RightEye’s newly acquired test to identify autism is the GeoPref Autism Test, developed by a leading researcher in understanding autism, Dr. Karen Pierce, an associate professor in the Department of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego and co-director of the UCSD Autism Center of Excellence. The test uses eye-tracking technology to compare the amount of time children spend looking at videos of people with the amount of time they spend looking at videos of geometric shapes. According to peer-reviewed research, children with healthy brains will spend more time looking at the videos containing faces. This new test results in autism identification in one in five cases, and identifies children for further testing in nearly half of cases, allowing for the early therapy intervention that can have a profound impact on outcomes. The American Pediatric Association recommends intervention before age 3, yet often children are not diagnosed until later.
“In developing the GeoPref Autism Test, my goal was to make it easier, faster and more affordable to identify toddlers at risk for autism,” said Pierce. “By partnering with RightEye, I knew that I would be able to make my test more accessible to health care providers and parents of young children who are seeking answers about an often-misunderstood and late-diagnosed disorder.”
RightEye’s Parkinson’s & other movement disorders test has identified Parkinson’s and other rare movement disorders, including Huntington’s disease and Essential Tremor, in thousands of patients over 12 years. Developed by a team that includes Mark Baron, M.D., professor of neurology, interim director of the VCU Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center and deputy director of the Southeast/Richmond Veteran’s Affairs Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education and Clinical Center at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center; Paul Wetzel, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical engineering in the VCU School of Engineering; and George Gitchel, a Ph.D. candidate in biomedical engineering at VCU, the test accurately identifies and assesses patterns of eye movement that are affected in patients with movement disorders. Earlier this month, VCU announced that The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research awarded a $1 million grant to VCU’s Schools of Medicine and Engineering to further evaluate this new diagnostic tool for Parkinson’s disease. The test, which offers more accuracy than traditional diagnostic methods, takes only five minutes and has a dramatically lower cost than the extensive, costly PET, DAT and MRI scans frequently ordered for diagnosis.
“We are excited to be working with RightEye to make better, more cost-effective screenings for Parkinson’s and other movement disorders available to more people around the world,” said Baron. “This is perhaps one of the most important developments in years to help us address the needs of patients with movement disorders.”
These revolutionary tests for autism and Parkinson’s disease are expected to be available to health care providers in early 2017 through RightEye’s platform, which was launched earlier this year and already offers a series of eye-tracking-based tests and training:
RightEye Neuro Vision, a two-minute test that helps health care providers more clearly understand the severity of a patient’s head trauma and better assess recovery over time.
RightEye Essential Vision, a comprehensive category of core vision tests that take only a few minutes to complete, and provide a faster, more accurate and robust way to implement standard vision screenings around the world.
RightEye Performance Vision, a set of vision tests to help athletes and defense forces by assessing vision strengths and identifying areas of vision that can be improved to enable them to reach maximum performance levels.