J&J, A*Star invest $15m for eye health digital innovation consortium

The consortium will create projects for trusted data access in eye care.

Two firms invested over $15m to launch an eye health digital innovation consortium, which will advance eye health research and address rising optical needs in the Asia Pacific region. 

The consortium stemmed from a memorandum of understanding between Johnson & Johnson VisionCare (J&J) and the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR).

In a joint statement, both firms will ink public-private partnerships between eye care professionals (ECPs), academe, and the industry for innovations. The joint investment will also take over three years.

Amongst the three new projects lined up for the consortium are MyoABank, which is a digital consent management platform that will consolidate data for eye health studies, behaviourally-informed messages to enhance eye health, and e-referral and e-triaging to step-up and step-down eye care in communities.

These projects will develop data-centric research and innovative technologies including AI, blockchain, data privacy preservation techniques, and personal data compliance for trusted data access and sharing relationships between patients, ECPs, researchers, clinical practitioners, and public health policymakers.