Startup Phelcom Technologies has just manufactured its 200th Eyer, an innovative technology that enables carrying out retina exams through a smartphone. The handheld fundus camera was released in April. “Eyer had remarkable market acceptance. This way, we’ve reached our production goal way before planned”, reveals Phelcom’s co-founder and CEO, José Augusto Stuchi. Device distribution is queued.

The equipment is already present in all regions of Brazil, Including institutions as USP, Unifesp, Albert Einstein Hospital, the Holy House of São Pauo, Sadalla Amin Ghanem Eye Hospital, Prevent Senior and Opty Group, inter alia.

More than 15 thousand exams have been conducted so far. Expectancy for 2020 is that the technology will be used in retina exams for more than 100 thousand people.

Eyer has embedded artificial intelligence (AI) and works through mobile technology and telemedicine. Exams data are available in EyerCloud, a cloud system that enable remote diagnostic. “Portability and low cost make Eyer one of the improvement tools for eye health access to more people. Mainly in remote communities and regions with deficient healthcare infrastructure. Only 15% of Brazilian cities offer ophthalmology services at present”, explains Phelcom’s co-founder and COO, Flávio Pascoal Vieira.

Phelcom Eyer

The startup’s first product, Eyer, is a state-of-the art in portable retinography for prevention and diagnostic of eye related diseases.

The device works attached to a smartphone and performs high-quality retina exams in few minutes, without need for pupil dilation. Synchronized to cloud, it automatically provides data to the online platform EyerCloud, so that a specialist can analyze them anywhere over the world. That is, it enables remote diagnostic.

Eyer aims to help tackling vision impairment and blindness worldwide, which affect 2,2 billion people, according to the World Health Organization. One billion out of those cases would be avoidable or remediable. That is to say, they occurred due to lack of access for proper care, such as exams and treatments.

Phelcom Technologies

Phelcom Technologies is a startup that brings technology and healthcare together, headquartered in São Carlos, SP, Brazil. It manufactures connected wearable handheld devices, aiming to democratize access to healthcare, offering better services to more people, with a compact equipment.

In order to develop its first product, the startup received funding from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), a foundation for scientific research and from Samsumg Creative Economy Promotion Program as well. It also counts on support from the incubators Supera Parque and Eretz.bio, the latter from Israeli Hospital Albert Einstein.