This Medical Device Received $2.1M to Replace the Otoscope

Five out of every six kids in the United States suffer from an ear infection by the time they are six years old. Despite the staggering number of children and adults who deal with an ear infection each year, the most widely used technology physicians use to diagnose the illness still looks like this:

This is an otoscope, and it has huge limitations. The tool only allows physicians to see the eardrum surface, even though ear infections actually stem from the middle ear.

Recognizing this problem, Dr. Ryan Shelton, Dr. Stephen Boppart, and Ryan Nolan determined there had to be a better way to diagnose ear infections.

After years of research and hard work, they co-founded PhotoniCare and developed ClearView, the first non-invasive medical device that accurately diagnoses ear infections by providing a clear view of the middle ear.

Instead of relying on the often unreliable otoscope, with ClearView, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, or technicians who work under pediatricians and otolaryngologists will be able to objectively diagnose ear infections.

Thanks to the new tool, not only will ear infection diagnosis and treatment improve, but doctors will save time, which will decrease healthcare costs for patients and payers in the process.

To continue the commercialization of the ClearView product, PhotoniCare recently announced it had received a $2.1M National Institute of Health Phase IIb Small Business Innovation Research Award. The company plans to use the new funding to conduct a multi-site clinical trial and make additional progress in bringing the product to market.