Oku Digital Health, Inc., a new artificial intelligence (AI)-based digital health company, has entered the global eyecare space. The company launched earlier this week as a spin-off of Topcon Healthcare, Inc. Oku’s official operations include connecting “eye insights to whole-body care,” linking routine eye exam data with broader patient health information to enable earlier identification of chronic disease signs and more coordinated clinical care.
The company’s operations are built on Topcon’s existing infrastructure, with oculomics at the core. Oculomics uses the eye as a non-invasive window to systemic health. Oku utilizes AI-supported diagnostics, electronic health record (EHR) integration, and referral workflows to connect healthcare providers with pharmaceutical partners. The company is built on Microsoft Azure’s cloud infrastructure, optimized for AI workloads with NVIDIA CUDA libraries.
Oku’s AI is designed to detect signs associated with cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, hypertension, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This technology is integrated into a point-of-care (POC) retina exam. Retinal images are captured during routine patient visits and analyzed by AI. This analysis can lead to remote interpretation by a licensed clinician, helping to diagnose and triage patients.
The intent behind this workflow is to assist primary care and comprehensive eyecare practices in identifying high-risk patients. These patients may then require further eyecare evaluation and can be directly referred to an appropriate provider. The system is not limited to Topcon devices.
Ali Tafreshi, former Topcon President and CEO, has been named CEO of Oku. He noted that primary care practices face significant operational burdens in closing quality care gaps. Eye care practices are looking for ways to expand their clinical role and strengthen patient relationships. “Oku connects POC screening, clinical data, and referral pathways directly into routine workflows,” Tafreshi said. “By identifying high-risk patients earlier and connecting them to the right level of care, we can help improve quality-measure performance, expand patient access, and reduce unnecessary clinical burden.”
Beyond patient care, Oku is also leveraging its data for drug development. The company aims to accelerate drug discovery across therapeutic areas including ocular, cardiovascular, renal, metabolic, and neurodegenerative diseases. Oku’s Harmony solution, a clinical image and data management platform, is intended to transform routine eye exams into faster trial candidate identification, recruitment, better retention, and scalable real-world evidence (RWE). Dr. Matthew Lungren, Oku’s chief data AI officer, stated that acting on these insights helps pharma sponsors advance drug development toward precision medicine by identifying ideal trial candidates, designing sharper protocols, and tracking longitudinal outcomes.
Oku is set to officially debut at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) 2026 annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. Attendees can learn more at the Topcon booth (#1727).
