UK medical technology company Occuity has secured a £1.5 million Innovate UK grant to advance a handheld device designed to support diabetes and pre-diabetes screening through a simple scan of the eye.
The Reading-based company said the funding will support development of its SD1 device, a non-contact optical system intended for use in community settings such as opticians and pharmacies. The technology is designed to assess diabetes risk without blood samples, consumables or laboratory testing.
Instead, the project centers on oculomics, an emerging field that uses information from the eye to detect or monitor wider health conditions. Occuity’s SD1 is being developed to measure advanced glycation end-products, known as AGEs, in the crystalline lens. These biomarkers build up over time and are linked to long-term glucose exposure and diabetes risk, allowing the lens to offer insight into metabolic health.
Occuity said the device could help make screening faster and more accessible, particularly for people who may not routinely engage with traditional healthcare services. Diabetes is a major burden for the NHS and is a leading cause of kidney failure, working-age blindness and lower-limb amputations. Globally, more than half a billion people are living with diabetes, with a similar number estimated to have pre-diabetes.
The company said existing prevention programs can delay or prevent progression to type 2 diabetes, but identifying people early before the disease develops remains a major challenge. The company added that almost half of people referred to the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programe do not attend a single session, preventing those opportunities for early intervention.
The SD1 is built on Occuity’s patented optical technology platform, which also underpins its PM1 Pachymeter and AX1 Axiometer. The platform combines optical measurement, miniaturization, handheld design and ease of use to deliver portable clinical measurements. By applying this same technology to biomarkers within the lens, the company is hoping to advance the assessment of systemic disease risk and make oculomics technology accessible to everyone.
The grant was awarded through Innovate UK’s Biomedical Catalyst 2025 program. Occuity said it was one of eight projects funded from 347 applications, a success rate of about 2.3%.
Dan Daly, Occuity’s co-founder and chief executive, said the award was “a significant endorsement” of the company’s technology and long-term vision. He added: “To be selected in such a competitive program is a fantastic achievement for the team and reflects the strength of the platform we have built.”
Lead scientist and UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at Occuity, Alistair Bounds, said that community optometry was well placed to support earlier identification of people at increased risk, helping refer them into clinical pathways sooner.
“SD1 has the potential to support earlier identification of people at increased risk of pre-diabetes through rapid, non-invasive assessment,” he said. “By helping refer people into existing clinical pathways sooner, we believe it could support earlier intervention and reduce the long-term burden of diabetes.”
Source: Occuity.
