A one-minute AI eye exam wins a top health prize for catching blindness before it starts

Diabetic eye disease is the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults, yet most of that sight loss can be prevented if the damage is spotted early — and millions of people miss the specialist exam that would spot it. AEYE-DS, built by AEYE Health, turns that exam into a one-minute test that runs itself: one photo of each eye, no eye drops to widen the pupil, and an answer on the spot, given by a nurse during an ordinary doctor's visit. In three clinical trials with more than 1,200 patients, it caught 92–93% of cases and produced a usable result for over 99% of patients. On November 3 it won the 2026 Prix Galien USA Award for Best Digital Health Solution — a prize often called the Nobel of drug and health research — chosen from 25 nominees, and it is already in use across dozens of hospital systems in the USA.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation