Paris, 7 January 2022 – After a conclusive prototyping phase and a first series, MIKAJAKI SA, the Swiss startup expert in the field of ophthalmology, is now reaching a key milestone by obtaining European certification at the end of 2021 authorising the marketing of Eyelib™. This automated ophthalmological analysis station can perform 100 different eye measurements in less than 6 minutes and can automate some twenty diagnoses – from cataracts to myopia to the detection of glaucoma – thanks to the combination of artificial intelligence and robotics. This unique, cutting-edge device results from close collaboration between MIKAJAKI and SEGULA Technologies. It promises, among other things, to revolutionise the treatment of the growing number of patients suffering from visual disorders. For 2022, the first year of industrialisation, the order book already foresees the delivery of 30 devices.

Shortage of professionals, medical deserts, overcrowded appointment schedules: it is to alleviate these problems that the founders of the startup MIKAJAKI have devised a compact and innovative device designed to optimise the management of ophthalmic pathologies. At SIMRA, a subsidiary of SEGULA Technologies dedicated to industrial production, the teams have mobilised all their expertise around this project.

They have been responsible for the design and are now supporting the rollout in the industrialisation phase. After a year of development at the SEGULA site in Saint-Nazaire, Mikajaki has just obtained the CE mark, i.e. the green light from the European authorities to market Eyelib™ throughout Europe.  The first units are now installed for clinical use in patients in three specialised centres in Paris, Nantes and Provins.

Dr Michael Assouline, co-founder and medical director of MIKAJAKI: “It is a great satisfaction to see such an ambitious vision and project materialise in such a short time. Eyelib™ is a revolution, a concrete medical response to a problem that affects all continents: the shortage of ophthalmologists. This device is intended to compensate for various shortages: of practitioners, of time, of expertise, of means, by offering very high quality medical information. Fulfilling our first orders is a real achievement.“

“I am very proud to have been involved in the development of Eyelib™, says Stéphane Parpinelli, Open Innovation Director in SEGULA. SIMRA’s teams in Saint-Nazaire are heavily involved in this project, which mobilises all of their skills and enhances them with those of SEGULA TECHNOLOGIES’ Process Division, such as automation and electrical wiring. Successfully supporting the prototyping and industrialisation of a technological platform that represents a real medical breakthrough illustrates both our agility and our ability to add value to even the most complex products.“

A quick, simple and comprehensive review

Combining artificial intelligence and robotics, EyeLib™ allows for the rapid performance of a highly advanced and comprehensive ophthalmological diagnostic assessment, fully automated, and to refer patients accordingly to the appropriate specialists. The device is presented as a station that can be automatically adjusted to different morphologies and is accessible to people of all sizes as well as to wheelchair users.

After answering an online questionnaire through a virtual agent driven by artificial intelligence, the patient benefits from a rapid succession of opto-electronic measurements of the eye. In just a few minutes, EyeLib™ analyses around 100 objective parameters and generates a comprehensive report that also includes highly detailed imaging of the eye’s anatomical and optical structures. These results are then combined with the subjective data collected by the virtual agent, to generate by means of several artificial intelligence algorithms an exhaustive pre-diagnosis as well as the set of optical prescriptions with unparalleled precision (glasses, lenses, implants for cataract or myopia surgery).