FAQs - Pipeline
（updated on April 3, 2026)
Kubota Glass
| Q. | How can we purchase Kubota Glass? |
| A. | Kubota Glass is currently available in Japan. If you are considering purchasing it from outside Japan, please contact our customer support for assistance. For more information about Kubota Glass, please visit the website at www.kubotaglass.jp/en. |
| Q. | Please tell us about the future development plan. |
| A. | Going forward, we plan to accelerate the growth of our business by strengthening marketing activities for the already launched "Kubota Glass" in Japan, while also actively pursuing collaborations with other companies for global expansion. At the same time, we are optimizing our manufacturing processes to reduce production costs and establish an operational structure that enables faster delivery. |
| Q. | Please explain Kubota Glass technology. |
| A. | Kubota Glass technology works to aid vision in myopia by projecting specially focused images generated using micro-LEDs in the peripheral visual field. We have been conducting and publishing research evaluating the device for the management of myopia. Kubota Glass is an electronic glasses-based illumination device and seeks to help manage myopia by providing specially focused illumination while maintaining high-quality central vision. |
eyeMO, a home-based remote retinal monitoring device
| Q. | Please tell us the future business strategy of eyeMO. |
| A. | eyeMO is Kubota Vision's handheld Swept Source Optical Coherence Tomographer (SS-OCT), a non-invasive tool that uses light waves to capture cross-sectional images of the retina. The initial prototype of eyeMO was completed in July 2020. We have been exploring opportunities for joint development and commercialization with partner companies, while also evaluating the optimal business model. |
| Q. | When will the eyeMO be commercialized? |
| A. | We are currently considering development strategies and commercialization, including business alliances with partner companies, so we are not in a position to give you further details of a specific date for the product launch. |
SS-OCT
| Q. | What is the difference between SS-OCT and eyeMO? |
| A. | eyeMO utilizes SS-OCT technology in a low-cost platform to evaluate retinal thickness and the presence of retinal edema. Currently commercially-available SS-OCT devices are expensive and are intended for monitoring fine details of retinal structures. eyeMO SS-OCT with NASA is designed to be radiation resistant, lightweight, compact, and energy-saving, etc., making it suitable for the space environment. We received a grant from NASA to assist in its early developmental stages to further enhance the SS-OCT capabilities of the eyeMO device to include detailed evaluation of the optic nerve. |
| Q. | How will the joint development of the eyeMO SS-OCT with NASA affect your future business? |
| A. | Future developments for the eyeMO SS-OCT with NASA are aimed at improving the device's resolution, enabling a morphological analysis of the optic nerve. In space, approximately 69%* of astronauts experience spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS), which primarily impacts the optic nerve of the eye. If the joint development program is successful, we believe that we will be able to use this technology not only in products for NASA but also in our diagnostic business for diseases affecting the optic nerve, such as glaucoma.
*as of January 2020 |
| Q. | What is the current status of the joint development project with NASA? |
| A. | Phase 1 of the project was completed in April 2020, and Phase 2 is still under discussion with NASA. The start date has not yet been determined due to the change of the U.S. administration in 2021 and the allocation of the national budget to the cost of countermeasures against the COVID-19 pandemic. We are continuing discussions with NASA regarding the next steps. |
Emixustat Hydrochloride_Stargardt Disease
| Q. | Please tell us the results of the phase 3 clinical trial for Stargardt disease. |
| A. | As we announced the top-line results from the phase 3 clinical trial of emixustat in patients with Stargardt disease on August 12, 2022, the study did not achieve its primary or secondary endpoints and did not demonstrate meaningful differences between treatment groups. We will further closely examine the data obtained from this clinical trial and determine the next steps, including partnership opportunities. Please refer to: "Kubota Vision Announces Top-Line Results from Phase 3 Clinical Trial of Emixustat in Patients with Stargardt Disease." As a result of further subsequent analysis, when comparing the subject group with a smaller atrophic lesion area at the baseline time against the group that received the placebo, it was demonstrated that the progression of the atrophic lesion was significantly slowed in the group receiving emixustat, and a subgroup analysis was conducted to verify this. A multi-factor analysis was performed on the subgroup of subjects with smaller lesions at baseline, controlling for the baseline factors identified in univariate and multi-factor analyses to affect lesion progression in this subgroup. The result of this analysis found that the progression rate of macular atrophy in the group receiving emixustat was slowed by 40.8% at Month 24 compared with the placebo group. At this point, it would be difficult for us to conduct another large-scale clinical trial on our own, so we will use these results to advance negotiations with partner companies. |
Emixustat Hydrochloride
| Q. | Why hasn't proliferative diabetic retinopathy advanced to phase 3 clinical trials? |
| A. | In the phase 2 clinical trial, mild improvements in VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) levels, a biomarker associated with the onset and worsening of retinopathy, and retinal thickness were observed. We are continuing to search for a partner for co-development of the drug, as it is difficult for us to conduct the phase 3 clinical trial alone due to the large scale of the trial. |
| Q. | Are you planning to continue developing a drug for age-related macular degeneration? |
| A. | We have collected a vast amount of data on age-related macular degeneration, which we intend to utilize in our future research. |