Singapore startup TeleMedC forms partnership with German medical center

The partnership will establish a research and development project on retinal diseases.

Singapore-based startup TeleMedC announced its recently established research and development (R&D) partnership with the Department of Ophthalmology at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg, Germany.

The focus of the joint research project is the detection and grading of cataracts with the automated diagnosis of the most common retinal diseases, including glaucoma.

Macular degeneration, cataracts, and glaucoma are the top three causes of blindness in Europe. These conditions are particularly prevalent among the elderly, which is a cause for concern in Germany, where nearly half of the population is aged 40 and above. Early detection of these diseases significantly improves the chances of preventing blindness, making retinal diagnostics critical to preserving good eye health.

This partnership was enabled and facilitated by Scaler8, a market expansion partner specialised in positioning Asian startups and SMEs for success in the German market through tailored market exploration and access programmes.

TeleMedC works with primary care providers, community clinics and pharmacies to deliver low-cost, fully automated, portable eye image grading technologies. These can be used for the diagnosis and prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes, glaucoma, stroke, hypertension, and macular degeneration.

“This cutting-edge project has the potential to cover a wider scope as it combines the detection and grading of cataracts – the globally leading cause of blindness – as well as the automated diagnosis of glaucoma and other common retinal diseases. It will cover most diseases that could lead to blindness and could even support the non-invasive detection of other non-eye diseases. We wholeheartedly support this exciting cooperative R&D project with TeleMedC and reiterate our commitment to contributing our expertise,” said Dr Martin Spitzer, a professor of Ophthalmology and Head of Department at UKE.