Optomap firm hones software package

Optos, the company which developed the Optomap retinal scanner, has reported a $20.7m gross profit in the six months to March 31.
However, in the plc’s first report after it began trading on the London Stock Exchange earlier this year, the Dunfermline business posted a $2.6m loss before tax, compared to a $1.9m loss last time.

Nevertheless Optos chief executive Stephane Sallmand said that in future the company expected to benefit from an expanding number of markets in which it operates, and investment was continuing ahead of moves into Spain and France. Japan was also being targeted, he said.

‘Optos plans to introduce an upgraded Version 2.3 Image Capture and Review software package that is designed to drive increased volumes of the Optomap Retinal Exam and is expected to be introduced by the close of the current calendar year,’ said Sallmand.

Trials are under way to confirm the clinical efficacy of another optical device, the M200MA, designed to produce an angiographic retinal image which is aimed at the secondary as opposed to the primary care market.

‘This new retinal image examination will offer eye-care practitioners advanced diagnostic, monitoring and treatment capabilities for particular eye disorders, including diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration,’ announced Sallmand.

The P200MA is being introduced in a select number of specialist eye care centres in the US and in Germany.

Optos reported increases in coverage of its best known product, with demand for the Optomap retinal exam P200 boasting 2,293 installations at the end of March, up from 1,641 at the end of the same six months last year.

Installations in the UK were up 5.9 per cent to 72 from the same time last year; in the US they were up 40.1 per cent to 2,068; in Canada 46 per cent to 127; and in Germany they increased 160 per cent to 26.