Vital Art & Science Receives Texas Emerging Technology Investment for Mobile Eye Test Technology
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The State of Texas Announces $250,000 TETF Investment in
Vital Art and Science Incorporated
Dallas – The North Texas Regional Center for Innovation and Commercialization (NTXRCIC) today announced that Vital Art and Science Incorporated (VAS) has received a Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF) investment of $250,000 for the commercialization of its proprietary technology, which uses a sophisticated shape discrimination vision test implemented on a low cost handheld electronic platform. VAS’s myVisionTrack™ allows patients with Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) or diabetic retinopathy (DR) to quickly and accurately test their retinal function and monitor their disease progression at home.
AMD and DR are serious eye diseases, and each is a leading cause of blindness in adults. These retinal disorders can progress quickly and require on-going monitoring that is both expensive and time consuming. Patients must visit their physician’s office where tests are performed by trained personnel on specialized equipment. VAS’s patent pending technology provides an alternative to office based testing. Patients monitor their own condition at home and as soon as a significant change has occurred healthcare providers can quickly intervene, treating the patient before more precious sight is lost.
VAS’s unique approach has also been recognized by pharmaceutical companies as having potentially significant value in reducing the cost and improving the results of clinical drug trials. By allowing patients in expensive drug trials to test at home, much more data can be collected at a much lower cost.
“We are very pleased with today’s announcement of the investment in VAS by the State of Texas,” says Mike Bartlett, President of VAS. “Our goal with myVisionTrack™ is to help preserve vision by giving patients the ability to self-monitor their condition so they can get the appropriate treatment at the earliest possible time. This funding from State will help us to realize that goal by enabling us to complete our clinical studies and pursue strategic collaborations with key pharmaceutical companies to support the commercialization of our product”.
The vision function test implemented in myVisionTrack™ was developed at the Retina Foundation of the Southwest, and both the Retina Foundation of the Southwest and the Department of Ophthalmology at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center are supporting the clinical studies required to show that patients can effectively monitor their own disease progression at home.
About the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF)
The Texas TETF is a $200 million initiative created by the Texas Legislature in 2005 at the governor’s request, and reauthorized in 2007 and again in 2009. A 17-member advisory committee of high-tech leaders, entrepreneurs and research experts reviews potential projects and recommends funding allocations to the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the House. To date, the TETF has allocated more than $197.2 million in funds to 133 early stage companies, and $173 million in grant matching and research superiority funds to Texas universities. For more information about the TETF visit, http://www.emergingtechfund.com
About the North Texas RCIC (NTXRCIC)
The North Texas Regional Center for Innovation and Commercialization (NTXRCIC) is one of six regional agents for the TETF. The NTXRCIC is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit corporation that works to identify technology-based entrepreneurial ventures that will commercialize emerging technologies, advancing the state’s competitiveness. The NTXRCIC cooperates with industrial, financial, academic, and public agencies to promote the regional entrepreneurial ecology. As a resource to its client companies, the NTXRCIC has a full-time staff, experienced volunteers and a strong resource partner network. For detailed information about the NTXRCIC, visit the web site. www.ntxrcic.org.
