Mini Chip Measures Eye Pressure Under the Skin

The two sister companies Injectsense and Injectpower want to combat blindness with autonomous mini implants smaller than a grain of rice. They have now received 9.4 million dollars in seed capital. Thanks to a solid-state battery, the sensors are expected to remain active for decades.

Many diagnostic instruments are only a snapshot at a specific point in time, while the physiological markers fluctuate greatly over a 24-hour period.

This is also the case with glaucoma, where intraocular pressure (IOP) is measured in the doctor's surgery using the air puff test during the day. At night, however, intraocular pressure can rise considerably and cause vision loss over time. A new mini-sensor now aims to close this measurement gap - the chip is implantable and can measure key indicators during sleep - for decades thanks to a solid-state battery.

A sensor chip smaller than rice grain

The eye chip comes from American company Injectsense, which specialises in sensor-based digital health products, and its French sister company Injectpower, a developer of ultra-miniaturised solid-state microbatteries for medical applications. Both companies have just received joint funding of USD 9.4 million to bring the highly integrated autonomous implantable devices, which are smaller than a grain of rice, into production.

The funds will be used to further consolidate the two companies' global supply infrastructure and create a French medical technology cluster for implantable electronics. The cluster will support Injectsense's trial for continuous intraocular pressure (IOP) sensors starting in February 2024 and will provide improved supply chain management.

Sensors and batteries for medical pressure measurement

Injectsense already produces hundreds of prototypes and plans to increase this to several thousand units by 2024. In addition to eye pressure sensors, the company also manufactures sensors for measuring intracranial pressure (ICP) and is working on the development of applications for monitoring cardiovascular pressure.

The funding consists of a $2.5 million bridge investment from private investors for Injectsense to enter clinical IOP studies and final product development under strict quality management. The financing includes an additional €6.5 million for Injectpower, which is preparing its energy-dense solid-state lithium-ion technology for transition to production. (uh)