231 Sheep

Glaucoma is the world’s leading cause of irreversible blindness. Glaucoma disproportionately impacts minorities. Asian Americans collectively have a 51 % higher likelihood of the most prevalent type, open-angle glaucoma (OAG), in comparison with non-Hispanic whites. Additionally, Black African Americans have 50% to 300% higher odds of being afflicted with this disease compared to Caucasians. These minority populations are also more likely to have inconsistent follow-up patterns and less education and training on treating glaucoma, leading to vast glaucoma health disparities. The standard first-line treatment for OAG and ocular hypertension is eye drops that lower intraocular pressure, requiring multiple hospital visits for monitoring and treatment adjustments. Yet, the outcomes of this treatment, as with many chronic conditions, depend on patient compliance, which is severely lacking.
This renders the treatment ineffective and causes a 6-fold increase in the risk for further vision loss. This lack of adherence contributes to an avoidable healthcare cost burden of a staggering $500 billion annually in the United States alone. Current commercial solutions to monitor patient adherence offer few options for medication that include software solutions (e.g., mobile apps) that send reminders or motivational messages with rudimentary gamification elements and hardware solutions that use the monitoring data for clinical trial efficacy. Maximizing patient compliance with the medication can reduce the need for expensive surgical interventions required to treat glaucoma and prevent the financial and emotional burden of vision loss.

This SBIR project employs a multifaceted strategy to address the existing disparities. 231 Sheep LLC has developed Ocuelar, the first holistic remote care solution for vision care that meets the needs of patients, their friends and families, and healthcare professionals. The initial phase (Phase I) focuses on establishing Ocuelar’s efficacy in enhancing medication adherence among minority glaucoma patients. Subsequent efforts in Phase II involve investigating the specific impact of the Ocuelar App on patient compliance. This investigation includes Chinese, Korean, and African American patients. The successful culmination of both project phases is anticipated to accelerate the launch of the holistic remote care solution. This, in turn, is poised to substantially mitigate glaucoma outcome disparities through continuous monitoring of medication adherence. Moreover, the project seeks to extend its impact by adapting the Smart EyeCup and its platform for monitoring various other eye conditions in both pre- and post-operative care scenarios, encompassing ailments like cataracts and retinopathy.