Monthly Startups Index September 2013

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September 2013 1 MEDCITY Reports Table of Contents Readers on digital devices can click on the headings below to get directly to the page. 1 From the Editor 3 2 Digital & Health IT 4 Startups In-Depth 5 Startup Activity 13 3 Pharma and BioTech 17 Startups In-Depth 18 Startup Activity 24 4 Medical Devices & Diagnostics 26 Startups In-Depth 27 Startup Activity 33 5 Most Popular Startups This Month 36

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September 2013 2 MEDCITY Reports From the Editor

The morning routine of the not-too-distant future

Every day we write about new technology that will change healthcare. Sometimes it’s easy to see how cancer treatment or diabetes care will be different in 5 or 10 or 15 years. Other times it’s harder to see what the future will look like. The picture is still fuzzy even if you squint.

From the list of startups in this month’s report, I can see a new morning routine shaped by four companies: Predictably Well, Adamant Technology, Bionym and ChartSpan Medical Technology.

We will need advances in a few other areas, but these startups will drive the new way of managing your health. Veronica Combs, Editor in Chief When you wake up after a good night’s sleep thanks to Beddit, you pick up your MedCity Media phone. Your Nymi wristband unlocks it and downloads the last 12 hours of your heart- rate and blood-pressure data to your phone.

You check your a five-day wellness forecast from Good Days and see that pollen counts are off the charts. You grab extra allergy meds and put them in your laptop bag, just in case.

As you make your first phone call of the day, the Adamant sensor on your phone analyzes the metabolites your breath. This data too goes to your phone.

All of this data goes to the personal health record on your phone that syncs with your tablet, thanks to ChartSpan’s personal health record. You have shared this record with a personal health coach. It’s the first of the month, so you get a monthly report from her: Sleep is better, cholesterol is still a little high, and you are holding steady on the total daily steps. She also reminds you of your upcoming doctor’s appointment and includes a link for sharing your PHR data with the office.

This is only the home and personal side of health. These same ideas will help at hospitals and skilled nursing facilities as well. There will be even more tech advancements to improve care and saftey in those settings as well.

Veronica Combs Editor MedCity News

September 2013 3 MEDCITY Reports

Digital & Health IT

September 2013 4 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Digital & Health IT

A PHR company’s contrarian proposal: Build for the reality that interoperability may not happen

By: Deanna Pogorelc Sept 5, 2013

For all of the personal health record companies out there, one called ChartSpan Medical Technologies caught my eye today. Its claim to fame is that it’s a “fully automated PHR app.” By that, the company means that users Company: can upload email files or photos of their health records to the app, and it con- ChartSpan Medical verts the contents into structured data. The app then organizes and stores a Technologies whole family’s data in the form of PHRs.

CEO: But wait, you say. That’s not fully automated. A truly automated PHR would Jon-Michial Carter pull in data from the EMR systems of a person’s doctors without any efforts by the user herself. Website: Yes, responds ChartSpan co-founder and CEO Jon-Michial Carter, but it’s http://www.chartspan.com/ time to start getting real about whether that’s actually going to happen, at least any time soon. Twitter: @Arpeggi_Inc “Interoperability has been a goal for years, but it hasn’t been achieved,” Carter explained. “We all know the technology exists today to make universal interoperability happen, but if we have free access to our healthcare records as patients, a lot of people don’t make money. I just get frustrated by the disingenuous conversations about it.”

He added that his team is a big fan of Blue Button, and if it became more pervasive the company would definitely work to accommodate what that technology could do. “But the truth is, 99 percent of the time we’re handed a

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September 2013 5 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Digital & Health IT

ChartSpan (Continued) piece of paper when we request our healthcare records. email from the app. We want to accommodate that process today,” he said. The ultimate goal is to be part of a paradigm shift that Carter’s young company today announced it closed a makes the patient the repository of healthcare informa- pre-seed funding round totaling just under $250,000. tion, rather than a provider, Carter stated. “Right now, a The round was led by Don Byrne, an entrepreneur in GI provider-based EHR can’t import API data from a fitness endoscopy who founded Byrne Medical (now Mediva- band or glucose reader, but a patient can,” he pointed tors), with participation from Carter and the Iron Yard out. “A provider today can’t take your human genome Digital Healthcare Accelerator, the company said. API and import it into their EHR, but a patient can. Patients can push their PHR data to anyone they want, ChartSpan’s PHR is based on proprietary optical char- but doctors can’t. We get that providers need to have acter recognition that lifts data from an image or file and that information, but who is really in a better position to converts it to digital data. But the PHR, which can be manage that data?” used on a smartphone, tablet or computer, also attach- es that original picture or record to the data it extracts. The ChartSpan PHR is set to launch in Q4 of this year. Users then can send the original record to a specialist, Until then, the Houston-based company is wrapping up or send an original copy of an immunization record to at the Iron Yard Digital Healthcare Accelerator in South a child’s nurse at school, and they can send it by fax or Carolina.

September 2013 6 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Digital & Health IT

Like a meteorologist for your health, Good Days fore- casts flare-ups in autoimmune conditions

By: Deanna Pogorelc Sept 11, 2013

For people with autoimmune disease, the temperature, humidity or baromet- ric pressure on any given day could mean more pain, or less pain, than the day before. Giving those people tools to prepare for what their symptoms might be has so far been a winning idea for mobile health company Predict- Company: ably Well. Predictably Well While AccuWeather and Weather.com both have tools that highlight environ- Co-Founders: mentalfactors that might play into migraine and arthritis pain, Predictably Well Juliet Monique Oberding and co-founder Juliet Oberding wanted to create something more personalized, Terje Norderhaug since each person’s disease takes a different course.

Website: Oberding herself was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis back in 2008 and http://www.predictablywell. joined up with software developer Terje Norderhaug in 2011 to see if sensors, com/ mobile technology and predictive analytics could help predict flare-ups.

The app that resulted, called Good Days, is aimed at people living with rheu- Twitter: matoid arthritis, lupus, fibromyalgia and other chronic autoimmune condi- @PredictablyWell tions.

Each day, an app user selects from a set of icons to let the app know if she’s feeling good, OK or bad that day. If she wants, she can use the app’s journal- ing feature to go into more detail about her fatigue or stress levels, or where any pain is occurring.

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September 2013 7 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Digital & Health IT

Predictably well (Continued)

Then the app goes to work aggregating environmental category in Qualcomm’s UPLINQ hackathon last week, data from outside sources and geographical data from according to an update on the company’s Facebook the user’s device. Using all of that, it tries to determine page. what factors contribute to a good day and to a bad day, and generates a five-day wellness forecast for that Oberding and Norderhaug are collecting early user feed- user. Like a weather forecast, it includes an icon that back to iterate in preparation for a forthcoming national indicates whether each day is expected to be good, OK launch. or bad, but also allows users to drill down into the data They’re taking the bottom-up approach to finding users that’s behind the forecast. by going straight to patients instead of through doctors Last summer, it won the popular grand choice prize at or health plans. “One of the real benefits of focusing the AT&T San Diego Apps Challenge, a contest that on patients now is you really learn to satisfy the main requires developers to use data made available by the users,” Oberding explained. “We’re working with local city. It’s currently in beta in San Diego, using ozone, people with RA and other autoimmune conditions, pollution, weather and microclimate zone data supplied reaching out to the community, interviewing them and by the city. The app also won the health and fitness connecting with them.”

September 2013 8 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Digital & Health IT

App uses cognitive behavioral therapy to treat and manage eating disorders

By: Stephanie Baum Sept 16, 2013

Eating disorders affect about 24 million people in the U.S. and have the highest mortality rate of any other psychiatric problem. Only about one in 10 with anorexia nervosa, bulimia and other eating disorders seek treatment. Jenna Company: Tregarthen, an entrepreneur-in-residence at Stanford University, was frus- Recovery Record trated with patients’ incomplete therapy homework and thought there was a better way to engage patients. Founder: Jenna Tregarthen She took a break from working towards a PhD in clinical psychology to develop a cognitive therapy app. The goal? To find a way to help people with Website: eating disorders that would be more interactive to improve patient engage- http://recoveryrecord.com/ ment. It was also important for that tool to appeal to the 16-25-year old age group — the average age of onset for eating disorders.

Twitter: In a phone interview with MedCity News she said: “Paper diaries are such a @RecovRec huge obstacle to patients. We are trying to reinvent the therapy homework with data and tools so they can be more efficient in treatment delivery.”

A lot of users see it as an optimal tool to avoid relapses, according to Tre- garthen, based on the feedback it’s received.

Recovery Record’s clinician facing version of the app is just coming out of Beta testing and Tregarthen and her co-founder have learned a lot from pilots with clinicians.

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September 2013 9 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Digital & Health IT

Recovery Record (Continued)

“We are already seeing clinicians prescribing this to pa- the clinician needs to give to the patient. When certain tients because the need for this technology is so big.” thresholds are reached it triggers a traffic light color to change. The clinician facing app calculates disordered The clinician facing app is designed to improve pa- behavior frequency, how frequently the patient is doing tient interactions and better assess the patient’s prog- their therapy homework - and combines those metrics ress.”We thought about what motivates clinicians to to calculate the level of attention the clinician needs to engage in technology…to influence positive treatment give. outcomes would be great. They can check in and see how engaged their patients are in realtime.” It also can We are allowing the provider is allowed to push a treat- send a message to users that their therapist has viewed ment to the patient’s app. The app is used as a treat- their diary entries. ment tool as well as making the clinician more efficient. Clinicians can also view the data each patient accumu- Here’s some of how it works. When patients make diary lates over time to evaluate progress over time. entries, such as what they had to eat at each meal, they can indicate how they feel. But the clinician also gets a Two large U.S. payers are setting up three-month pilots sense of how engaged their patients are by how fre- to more vigorously measure cost savings and health quently they make diary entries. Custom goals, coping outcomes and clinician-patient satisfaction. tactics and meal plans are delivered to patients day-today, to help keep them on track. Users receive rewards, “Our vision is to give clinics a dashboard of outcomes surprises, pictures of baby animals, affirmations and data so they can become much more evidenced based social support to keep patients engaged in their treat- in doing research.” ment program between visits with a therapist. Beyond eating disorders, Tregarthen also sees applica- An algorithm calculates a baseline norm and when there tions for mood disorders such as depression, bipolar is a deviation from that it calculates the difference. A and anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders traffic light’s three colors indicate the level of attention and post traumatic stress disorder.

September 2013 10 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Digital & Health IT

MediSafe raises $1M to develop laser-focused insights on adherence for pharma, healthcare

By: Stephanie Baum Sept 23, 2013

As part of its partnership with a pharmaceutical company to improve adherence for its diabetes drug, mobile health startup MediSafe made an interesting discovery, according to its founder Bob Shor. Caucasian men on the East Company: Coast were missing their 7 pm dosage on weeknights. What was the cause? MediSafe Jeopardy? Dinner? Or did they leave their medication at home?

If you had guessed the latter, you’d be right. Israel-based Medisafe’s app, Founder: which 125,000 users have downloaded since November last year, collects Bob Shor patient data from its users through the cloud-synched app. With users’ per- mission it converts that information into big data insights for pharmaceutical Website: and healthcare industry partners. It can provide laser-focused insights on http://www.medisafeproject. com/ when people are missing their medication and why. It’s raised $1 million to add an iPhone app developer and marketer and to Twitter: scale up partnerships with other pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. @MediSafeProject In an interview with Shor, he said it expects to have four to five partnerships within six months and another 10-15 one year from now. The app, which has been in beta testing since November last year is expected to hit the market mid-October.

TriVentures and lool Ventures led the financing round. Other investors in- cluded serial entrepreneurs and angel investors Eyal Gura (@eyalg), Yadin Kaufmann, the founding partner of Veritas Venture Partners and Yair Schindel,

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September 2013 11 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Digital & Health IT

MediSafe (Continued) a healthcare entrepreneur. MediSafe was part of a group of companies that gradu- ated from the inaugural class of Microsoft’s four-month For healthcare and pharmaceutical companies, the accelerator program for its cloud platform, Windows app’s dashboard shows which demographics have Azure. higher non-compliance for a drug in relation to the general population. It also highlights parts of the U.S. with The Centers for Disease Control puts medication adher- the lowest prescription rates. It can also indicate rival ence in the U.S. at a miserable 50 percent, a pain point drugs patients use. that causes complications and drives up healthcare costs. Medication adherence is a pain point that mobile Consumers use the app to monitor when and how health services are competing to solve. Israeli mobile much medication they should be taking. When users health startup MediSafe developed a cloud-synched add medications, they are prompted with questions on virtual pill box app boasting an adherence rate higher amounts, frequency and time of day, and whether or not than the national average. they should be taken with food. If users forget to take their medications or forget to confirm it on the app, fam- Part of the future of mobile health technology in health- ily members are notified through text message. care is its potential to use apps to predict and change behavior. Medication adherence is just one part of that.

September 2013 12 MEDCITY Reports Startup Activity: Digital & Health IT

Could your heartbeat be your password? – Sept, 3 2013 One new biometric security innovation could offer an interesting alternative to the typical password. This wristband grants users access to their devices by identifying the wearer by their heartbeat. http://bit.ly/1cCKDCY

App with goal of letting doctors eprescribe directly to consumers raises $1M – Sept, 5 2013 The app reduces the amount of time consumers wait around for prescription medication at their local pharmacy. Now it’s raised seed funding to develop the app into an effective patient engagement tool and time-saving device to make picking up prescriptions more efficient. http://bit.ly/14og2cm

Intel joins the race for wearable device chips with Quark – Sept 12, 2013 Intel’s Brian Krzanich, chief executive of the world’s biggest chip maker announced Quark, a chip aimed at wearable gadgets. Intel’s chip is a small device that comes from its heritage of making embedded processors, or older chips such as its Pentium that are refashioned for the industrial controls or appliances market. http://bit.ly/18XGsxy

New social media platform for healthcare wants to connect hospitals with each other – Sept 13, 2013 Healthcare IT company Next Wave Health launched a social media collaborative platform to encourage hospitals to share insights with each other on health IT current events like ICD-10 implementation http://bit.ly/13DcoJh

How Aunt Bertha could help hospitals reduce readmissions – Sept 17, 2013 Aunt Bertha has a beautiful web site and a helpful database that makes it easy to get help with food, work, medical care and housing, among other things. The team at Aunt Bertha is part of the Capital Factory accelerator in Austin. http://bit.ly/1f2RpEb

September 2013 13 MEDCITY Reports Startup Activity: Digital & Health IT

Sproutling’s wearable baby monitor is about insights for parents, not just data – Sept 17, 2013 Sproutling created a wearable baby monitor that not only helps parents keep track of their babies’ vitals, but also uses that collected data to help them make decisions. Via the device, which is joined by a base station and small camera, parents can monitor everything from a baby’s heart rate and breathing to the ambient temperature of the room. http://bit.ly/1f2Gbja

Lively raises $4.8M so loved ones can help keep seniors safely at home – Sept 18, 2013 The company has built an “activity-sharing platform” that combines hardware and software to keep people tuned in to the activities of their parents/grandparents. The goal is to subtly use technology to give loved ones peace of mind without stressing out seniors. http://bit.ly/1eRc80d

Can smart cards, biometric scans and the cloud keep dirty data out of health IT systems? – Sept 19, 2013 With LifeMed ID, David Batchelor and his team want to establish the standard for patient identification and make sure it’s adopted at all of the places a patient’s record is viewed and edited, meanwhile creating an audit trail of every place that patient has checked in to. http://bit.ly/18daobW

Understanding the mind with Shadow’s mobile dream-catcher app – Sept 19, 2013 Shadow launched its modern-day dream catcher — a mobile app that enables people to record, remember, and interpret their dreams. http://bit.ly/1gDRsEy

Does Myo investor success indicate a new era for hardware startups? – Sept 24, 2013 Change Healthcare markets two platforms. The Transparency Messenger compiles health plan and claims data to devise algorithms that determine the cost of a service. Then it uses health plan holders’ or employees’ demographic information and personal preferences for care to look for savings on their behalf. http://bit.ly/1cKTEML

September 2013 14 MEDCITY Reports Startup Activity: Digital & Health IT

With latest $70M, Practice Fusion one of the most well-funded health IT companies – Sept 24, 2013 Practice Fusion is best known for its web-based electronic medical record (EMR) for physicians and other care providers. The product isn’t as sophisticated as some of its competitors, but has spread quickly with physicians as it’s available for free. http://bit.ly/1ba2kg8

Mobile care coordination tool to improve patient safety raises $27M – Sept 24, 2013 Mobile health device developer PatientSafe Solutions, which developed a tool to improve patient safety and avoid adverse drug events, has closed a Series C round to fund the expansion of the company to the Asia Pacific market. http://bit.ly/1fzsE2C

BioDigital snags $4M for quest to understand, explore the human body in 3D – Sept 25, 2013 The company, which creates interactive 3D models of the human body, has raised a $4 million round led by First- Mark Capital and joined by the NYU Venture Fund. http://bit.ly/18q3KgS

Mental health app startup finds traction on college campuses with eating disorder program – Sept 25, 2013 The program starts with an online evaluation that gauges a person’s behaviors and self-image. Based on those re- sults and ThriveOn’s algorithms, each user is assigned to a custom, 10-week program that meets his or her specific needs. That program includes reading material, journal entries and virtual coaching that can be accessed via web or mobile app. http://bit.ly/1cHkkz0

Medivo buys diabetes app to boost mhealth chronic condition toolbox – Sept 26, 2013 OnTrack is a free Android app that helps diabetics manage their disease by tracking blood glucose levels, food intake, medication, blood pressure, pulse, exercise and weight. It produces charts, graphs and reports that can be sent to providers and care takers. http://bit.ly/14LPjEs

September 2013 15 MEDCITY Reports Startup Activity: Digital & Health IT

Startup biNu honored for contributions to UN-conducted survey – Sept 26, 2013 biNu, a startup that makes technology for feature phones, has been recognized by the United Nations for its efforts in bringing better quality of life to people around the world. http://bit.ly/1fKixbr

Wearable device maker Recon gets boost from Intel Capital – Sept 27, 2013 Recon is making the Recon Jet, which will ship in February. The device is for bikers, runners, golfers, or anyone who wants to get access to additional data, like an overlay of information on top of reality, while on the run. http://bit.ly/1bdkaeM

Healthcare startup Beddit: The latest common sleep disorder treatment? – Sept 28, 2013 Beddit is an ultra-thin sensor that goes under your bedsheets and collects data about your sleep quality, heart rate, breathing rhythm, movement, sleep stages, snoring, and the quality of your sleeping environment. http://bit.ly/19NyEic

September 2013 16 MEDCITY Reports Pharma & Biotech

September 2013 17 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Pharma & Biotech

Transdermal, spray-on drug developers see $650B market opportunity

By: Stephanie Baum Sept 2, 2013

Kenneth Kirby, the president of TransDermal Delivery Solutions Corp., sees his company’s transdermal drug delivery system as transforming the way we think about medication. By avoiding the oral delivery route, Kirby says it can Company: help drugs retain their potency and begin working faster. He likens transder- Transdermal Delivery Solutions mal drug delivery as a modern day poultice.

CEO/Founder: Its lead indication is for the treatment of low testosterone in men called Kenneth Kirby Testagen TDS. Earlier this summer, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved an IND application for Testagen, paving the way for the company to Website: conduct several clinical trials. It will help evaluate the drug’s ability to sur- http://www.tdsc.us/ mount a couple of the biggest challenges. One is transference, which is the risk of the low testosterone drug that’s applied to the forearms being inad- Twitter: vertently rubbed off onto a family member. Low testosterone drug treatments @TDSC_US pose a special risk to children, and, to a lesser extent, women.

A comparatively minor challenge is the impact it can have on lifestyles since users usually can’t bathe or get wet for eight hours after applying or they face having to reapply the drug. Kirby says it’s surmounted those challenges with ethanol in the spray that dries on the skin’s surface after a few minutes.

The company will do Phase 1 and 2 dosing studies. A Phase 2 study will assess transference, according to a company statement. A Phase 3 compar- ative analysis test will compare the drug’s response to others on the market

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September 2013 18 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Pharma & Biotech

Spray-on drug (Continued) over a 90-day period. for use with Diazepam, a sedative that’s also an anti-convulsive drug. In addition to Testagen, Kirby said the company’s interested in other applications such as local anesthe- Kirby said it’s seeking funding of $3 million to $7 mil- sia, Lidocaine. Using its transdermal solution could be lion to complete work on Progesterone, an Estrogen/ a useful way to steer patients away from the addictive Progesterone combination and Diclofenac Sodium. He properties of opioids as well as their other side effects added that a licensing deal for Testagen could give it the like constipation. It also has the potential to make medi- capacity to take several drugs through the clinical devel- cation safer for children and senior citizens, says Kirby. opment process, including progesterone, Lidocaine and Diclofenac. Although it’s developing a drug that combines estrogen and progesterone to treat pre-menstrual syndrome, Looking at all the drugs that could be repurposed for it’s also intrigued by progesterone’s potential to treat transdermal delivery, the company estimates the market traumatic brain injuries, as research from Emory seems opportunity in a neighborhood north of $650 billion. to indicate. It’s also developing the drug delivery system

September 2013 19 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Pharma & Biotech

Neuro drug developer iPierian nets $30M, spins off new company for rare disease R&D program

By: Deanna Pogorelc Sept 4, 2013

Rather than leveraging stem cells for therapeutic use, iPierian Inc. has been using them to create disease models with which it can screen and develop new drugs. Now, with $30 million it’s just collected from investors, iPierian Company: Inc. plans to split two distinct R&D programs that have emerged from those iPierian Inc. techniques into different companies.

CEO/Founder: Some of the investment money will continue to fund iPierian’s drug devel- Dr. Nancy Stagliano opment efforts in neurodegenerative disease. The other portion of it goes toward a Series A for a new spinout called True North Therapeutics. The Website: company declined to specify how the funding was divided. http://www.ipierian.com/ “Given recent positive developments with promising drug candidates, we Twitter: believe that creating two companies, iPierian and True North, opens up a @iPierian wider range of possibilities for partnering discussions, allows each company to explore new indications and pipeline opportunities, and optimizes the value to shareholders and patients with the assets built through the scientific legacy of iPierian,” said Jim Scopa, managing director at MPM Capital, in a statement.

MPM Capital co-led the round along with GlaxoSmithKline’s venture capital arm, SR One, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Existing investors like Biogen Idec and Google Ventures also participated, iPierian said.

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iPierian Inc. (Continued)

Since its inception in 2008, the South San Francis- the immune system that helps the body clear pathogens co company has been working with a drug discovery from an organism. True North says it’s developing drugs platform based on a novel cell regeneration technique. for rare diseases in the hematological, renal and neuro- Developed by Nobel Prize winner Shinya Yamanaka logical therapeutic areas, but a company representative of Kyoto University, the techniques allow scientists to declined to be more specific. With the Series A funding, convert adult stem cells back into ones that behave like the company hopes to file an IND within the next 12 to embryotic cells in their ability to be coaxed into a variety 18 months. of different cell types. Meanwhile, iPierian will continue working on IPN007, its “That platform has been used to grow diseases in a lead drug candidate for the treatment of tauopathies, dish,” as CEO Nancy Stagliano described in an inter- with plans to file an IND application in 2014. Following view last year, to allow researchers to develop a better the failure of a group of drugs that went after a different understanding of how certain drugs would behave in protein, beta amyloid, in clinical trials, the next wave humans. One of the R&D programs it has yielded targets of clinical trials for Alzheimer’s seems to include more the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases charac- products focused on the tau hypothesis. TauRx Pharma- terized by tangles of Tau protein, including Alzheimer’s ceuticals, for example, is running two late-stage clinical disease. The other targets the classical complement trials for a drug designed to dissolve tangles of tau in pathway to treat autoantibody-driven rare diseases. the brain. Eli Lilly also recently acquired rights to develop a diagnostic agent to detect tau. True North Therapeutics was spun off to continue development of the latter program and its lead can- Stagliano, former CEO of CytomX Therapeutics, will didate, TNT009, a monoclonal antibody the company continue to head iPierian and will also serve as CEO of says selectively inhibits a target of the classical com- True North Therapeutics. plement pathway. The complement system is a part of

September 2013 21 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Pharma & Biotech

Tiny traps disguised as human cells snap up viruses in a new take on anti-viral therapy

By: Deanna Pogorelc Sept 26, 2013

Viral infections are pesky, sneaky things. The infectious agents that cause maladies like influenza, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and Ebola hijack living cells and replicate, making it hard to destroy them without also harming an organism’s Company: cells. And, they mutate to find new ways to attack cells. Vecoy Nanomedicines Erez Livneh and his small team at Vecoy Nanomedicines have come up with CEO/Founder: a crafty way of tricking viruses to hijack nanotraps instead of human cells, Erez Livneh and they think it could change the way viral infections are treated.

Website: In Livneh’s mind, treatment of viral infections is “probably one of the biggest http://vecoy.com/ unmet needs in biomedicine to this day.” Vaccines, for their part, have come a long way in preventing the spread of infection — but that’s for the few that Twitter: scientists have successfully developed and commercialized. @VecoyNanoMed “For most viruses, we don’t have any vaccine or have partial vaccines,” Livneh explained. “Usually when you have a virus, the doctor doesn’t know exactly what you’re suffering from, so the diagnostic is not so great either.”

The reason it’s been so hard to develop effective vaccines and anti-viral drugs is because viruses are so adaptive, evolving and mutating to attack host cells, and they take otherwise healthy human cells hostage. Anti-viral treatments that are in use today, like HIV/AIDS cocktails, do not actually destroy viruses. Rather, they penetrate cells that have been infected by viruses to keep them from multiplying. They also tend to come with some pretty

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Vecoy Nanomedicines (Continued) detrimental side effects.

But that kind of damage control is completely different Vecoy’s technology, according to Livneh, would help the from what Vecoy is doing. Vecoy’s technology aims immune system destroy as many viruses as possible to trap viruses before they infiltrate cells, while they’re before those viruses can infect cells. Doctors call that still floating idly in the bloodstream without any mo- “lowering the viral load.” tion or reproductive capabilities. To do that, it uses a new approach of virus-traps, or artificial nanoparticles “For some (viruses), we speculate that lowering the load structured in a way that their exterior resembles that of beyond a certain threshold would enable the immune human cells. system to overcome infection,” Livneh said. “In other cases, the patients will be bettered, not cured.” Once these camouflaged nanoparticles are put into the bloodstream of a person with a viral infection, they lure He said the Vecoys — short for virus decoys — could and absorb free-floating viruses. Oncw they’ve captured be either virus-specific or multipurpose. Further, they their prey, the nanoparticles break down the viruses and could potentially complement existing anti-viral thera- disarm them. pies that target viruses already inhabiting cells. Similar concepts are also being explored at a company called Or at least that’s what Vecoy thinks will happen based NanoViricides and a few different universities. on its lab studies, which right now are done with cells, mice and insects. So far, the technology has demon- Vecoy’s technology is a byproduct of Livneh’s creative strated the ability to eliminate 97 percent of viruses in thinking and labwork. The biologist and bioinformatician culture. The goal, according to Livneh, is to push viral had been working on it for a while but grew confident eradication beyond 99.9 percent. enough to start a company after completing the 10- week Graduate Studies Program at Singularity Universi- Even though that still wouldn’t make it a cure for a viral ty back in 2010. infection, there’s a lot of value in reducing the number of viruses in the body by that much, he noted. When a While the majority of his colleagues remain in the com- person catches a virus, the immune system fights back pany’s R&D lab in Israel, Livneh and one other team and actually destroys a lot of viruses. However, because member have taken up residence at the Boston accel- viruses reproduce exponentially, the immune system erator MassChallenge to focus on raising a $5 million eventually becomes overwhelmed. Series A.

September 2013 23 MEDCITY Reports Startup Activity: Pharma & Biotech

Today’s hormone therapy progesterone could be tomorrow’s treatment for traumatic brain injury – Sep 4, 2013 BHR Pharma recently stated that it’s completed enrollment in a Phase III safety and efficacy study of its progesterone formulation, BHR-100, as a neuroprotective agent for people who experience moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. http://bit.ly/15CVI0L

Biopharma raises $46M to surmount treatment challenges for inner ear disorders – Sept 4, 2013 Otonomy has raised $45.9 million to advance its therapeutics to treat middle and inner ear disorders,such as Me- niere’s disease and to develop treatments for hearing loss symptoms, according to a company statement. http://bit.ly/17PdmW1

Startup Second Genome examines the body’s microbes to find ways to treat diseases– Sept 6, 2013 Second Genome, has turned to DNA analysis and biochemical studies of mixtures of microbes and human cells in culture to better explain things. http://bit.ly/14rcohI

Biotech accelerator BioMotiv, NYU unveil a new spinoff for inflammatory disease treatments – Sept 9, 2013 Orca Pharmaceuticals is the first company announced by BioMotiv, the for-profit accelerator associated with the Harrington Discovery Project at UH. http://bit.ly/15ej1CE

Biotech NovelMed marches toward the clinic with a new therapy for rare blood disorder PNH – Sept 12, 2013 NovelMed is working with a humanized antibody that it thinks could block intra- and extra-vascular hemolysis in patients with PNH. The orphan disease causes part of the immune system called the complement system to attack and kill red blood cells, which can result in a slew of symptoms including fatigue, weakness, pale skin, shortness of breath, abnormal blood clotting and red urine. http://bit.ly/184Gpio

September 2013 24 MEDCITY Reports Startup Activity: Pharma & Biotech

Aerie Pharmaceuticals plans to go public– Sept 19, 2013 Aerie Pharmaceuticals, which is based in New Jersey and has a research-and-development facility in the Triangle, filed plans to go public with the Securities and Exchange Commission. http://bit.ly/1gEvbX2

NeuroTrack’s computer test for Alzheimer’s wins over Founders Fund, Social+Capital Part- nership – Sept 30, 2013 NeuroTrack Technologies said that it’s raised $2 million in a Series A round led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and joined by Social+Capital Partnership and several angel investors. http://bit.ly/19PyacX

September 2013 25 MEDCITY Reports Medical Devices & Diagnostics

September 2013 26 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Medical Devices & Diagnostics

iPad app creates real-time connection between device reps and nurses in the OR

By: Deanna Pogorelc Sept 4, 2013

A duo of former medical device sales reps has turned to mobile technology and the cloud to alleviate some of the access, cost and logistical challenges faced by medical device sales reps of today. Company: SpotOn Surgical Glenn Mills and Tom Pfleider started SpotOn Surgical in 2010 along with Dr. Michael Sheinberg, a neurosurgeon, after they had noticed several market Founder: factors impeding the ability of reps to do their jobs. First, hospitals were Tom Pfleider making it harder (and more expensive) for medical product sales representa- tives to get access to the operating room by implementing complex vendor Website: credentialing processes. That was understandable as a way to increase secu- http://spotonsurgical.com/ rity and decrease foot traffic in the hospital, but frustrating for reps.

Twitter: Simultaneously, though, robust broadband networks and mobile devices were becoming widely available in hospitals. Medical device companies, N/A meanwhile, were facing decreasing margins and searching for ways to reduce the cost of sales.

Mills and Pfleider, president and CEO of the company, respectively, saw an opportunity for companies to make their reps available for face-to-face customer support via a secure web connection, rather than in person. Thus, SpotOn was born.

It’s a cloud-based portal that links doctors and nurses in the operating room to educational and support materials for a device or piece or equipment, with

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September 2013 27 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Medical Devices & Diagnostics

SpotOn Surgical (Continued) the option of on-demand video conferencing if technical SpotOn is also working on building a comprehensive support is needed while the product is in use. list of phone numbers for the support desks of every device and equipment supplier out there, whether it’s For example, if a surgeon was working with an ortho- a SpotOn customer or not. Once that is complete, the pedic implant but wasn’t sure which tool in the accom- company can offer a complete support solution for hos- panying toolkit to use, an OR nurse could use SpotOn pital personnel, who often don’t know who their sales to read the latest user manual. If she couldn’t find an reps are for a given device or have to scramble to find answer there, she could tap a button in the app that the manufacturer’s technical support information when would send out an alert to the mobile device of any rep there’s a problem. assigned by the supplier to take her call. She would use the iPad or iPhone’s cameras to video chat with the rep, Mills said the California company’s first customers are and show him any of the equipment she had questions device and equipment makers who want to expand their about. At the end of the call, none of the information reach within a territory. Among them is Steris, which has exchanged would be stored by the app. a sales force of more than 500 professionals.

As Mills explained how the app worked, one of my The company was self-funded until about six months first thoughts was that it sounded a lot like Nurep, a ago, when it completed a round of private funding from mobile-focused company that’s working with medical investors. “We’re well-funded going forward,” Mills said. device makers to provide on-demand, remote customer The next steps now are to continue signing up suppliers support through video. and slowly beginning to roll out to hospitals. The team is also putting together a multi-center trial to measure The idea is similar, Mills said, but the model is different. – beyond just customer anecdotes – the advantages to “It’s a much more shared-expense model,” he ex- hospitals of having virtual support reps available. plained. “We have a low-cost subscription model where Currently SpotOn is available for iPhones and iPads but hospitals play a subscription fee per device (SpotOn should be available for Android within the next sever- deploys iPad minis in hospitals), and suppliers pay a al months. Mills said the company should be ready to fee to join based on their reach. Reps who wish to join release the next version of the software by the end of pay an annual fee to cover their entire territory.” Every- the year. body pays a little because everyone gets value from the service, he said.

September 2013 28 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Medical Devices & Diagnostics

Physicist building nanotech sensor to track your health through your breath

By: Veronica Combs Sept 10, 2013

In addition to reminding you to take your meds and tracking your steps, your smart phone may soon be able to tell you if that scent in your breath is due to Company: the garlic from lunch or something much worse. Adamant Technologies Adamant Technologies is working on a sensor that analyzes metabolites in the breath. The idea is to track changes in the body – lung cancer, diabetes – CEO/Founder: as soon as they start happening. Just as the Atossa breast cancer screening Sam Khamis can track cellular changes in breast tissue, Adamant’s sensor could give a Website: similarly detailed history of the body’s health. http://www.adamanttech.com/ Founder and CEO Sam Khamis started the company in 2011 and boot- strapped his way through the first year. In 2012, he got his first (and only so Twitter: far) round of outside investment from Khosla Vetures of $2.5 million. N/A Khamis said that he is starting with measuring the metabolic rate and wants to do a usability study with this focus.

“What we can do is measure from your exhale or how efficiently you’re burn- ing calories and give feedback in real time,” he said. “You would be able to set a goal for your metabolic range and then you would know if you worked out too hard and were in fat storage mode.”

Khamis said that his sensor is the new core technology that can take mobile health where everyone says it’s supposed to go.

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September 2013 29 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Medical Devices & Diagnostics

Adamant Technologies (Continued)

“The only devices that are out there today are acceler- Another possible application for this life science innova- ometer devices based on 30 – 40-year-old technology,” tion is detecting biomarkers for TB. he said. Khamis has spent the last year getting the technolo- The current prototype is a very thin case that fits around gy ready to manufacture at scale. Now he is ready to a cell phone. There is a small sensor at the bottom and gather data from people with asthma and skin cancer a port for a USB cable. Khamis said that a handheld and build a database of smells. The next step will be option is also in the works. Nanotechnology drives the to identify the chemicals in a particular smell and then tiny sensor. associate those chemicals with metabolic changes. Khamis compared the process to the human nose. The sensor would be a detection device first, but Khamis is working toward building a full diagnostic de- “If you’re in a room with both pizza and coffee, you vice in the long run. The challenges and cost of an FDA know both of those things are there because of the way approval are delaying that goal, at least for now. your nose works,” he said. “We’ve designed our sensor to work the same way.” Khamis sees opportunities with asthma, tuberculosis and melanoma. The sensor could predict asthma at- The end goal is to build an algorithm on the sensor that tacks about 20 minutes before they happen by monitor- is smart enough to learn to smell new things. ing inflammation of the upper respiratory system. Before starting Adamant, Khamis ran a consulting “Parents are constantly checking their child’s pulse company focused on measurement and automation, oxygen and giving them steroids when they don’t need test socket development, MEMS and nanomaterials them,” he said. “The idea would be to minimize hospital synthesis. He also cofounded Nanosense, INC where visits and medication.” he led research and development efforts on bio-inspired carbon nanotube devices. Under his technical direction, Khamis said he also has considered doing a clinical the team won $4 million from the Defense Advanced R&D and then a trial in Australia to test the sensor’s Research Projects Agency’s Real Nose program. ability to detect early stage melanoma. Australia has the world’s highest rate of skin cancer, and melanoma Khamis has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of is one of the most common cancers affecting young Pennsylvania. While at UPenn, he invented a technique people in that country. If a melanoma is caught early, allowing carbon nanotubes and graphene to be inte- the five-year survival rate is 95%. By the time the cancer grated into standard semiconductor fabrication process progresses to Stage IIC, the five-year survival rate drops lines. to 53%.

September 2013 30 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Medical Devices & Diagnostics

Could this device lead to shorter labor and delivery + become childbirth standard of care?

By: Lindsey Alexander Sept 18, 2013

Materna Medical is at work on a device to help protect the more than 80 percent of women who suffer damage or tearing during childbirth.

Company: “The clinical need we’re trying to address is that there’s a tremendous Materna Medical amount of damage that women suffer during childbirth,” Mark Juravic, founder and CEO of the California-based startup, said. That damage can lead to CEO/Founder: incontinence, pain, sexual dysfunction and vaginal prolapse, and much of the Mark Juravic damage done is to the pelvic muscle because the baby stretches too much Website: too quickly. First-time mothers are particularly susceptible to tearing. http://www.maternamedical. If the device is brought to market, Juravic said there are many value propo- com sitions: it could prevent vaginal tearing for the mother, prevent pelvic muscle damage to the mother, and, perhaps most interestingly, could potentially Twitter: also offer shorter delivery times using fewer instruments. Juravic said some N/A evidence points to predilated tissues leading to shorter delivery times. With shorter, easier deliveries, for instance, it’s likely forceps would be less neces- sary, further reducing the chance of tearing and damage to the mother and stress on the baby.

“This can be, if it works and provides all these benefits, it could become the standard of care for childbirth,” Juravic said. In theory, it would make the job of childbirth easier on the mother and the physician or midwife.

The device itself is surprisingly simple: a mechanical dilator that would pene-

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September 2013 31 MEDCITY Reports Startups In-Depth: Medical Devices & Diagnostics

Materna Medical (Continued) trate the first third of the vaginal canal and basically pre- “A number of obstetricians and gynecologists have stretch it to full dilation. It would be used for an hour or taken a look at our device and said, ‘If you could just two during the first stage of labor, and is equipped with change this one little thing on it, I would really like to use sensitive load and location sensors, plus a semi-auto- it on X patient population or Y patient population. . . . ‘ matic force-controlled actuation system, so the device There are a number of devices we could launch close to can be removed quickly. our core tech.”

The idea translates from sports medicine: slower Juravic spent his pre-startup life at Guidant, and took stretching is more effective and less stressful to the the Stanford BioDesign course while working there. The body than a quick stretch. Materna is banking on this BioDesign course presented a number of issues to the kind of slow stretch to prepare the pelvic floor for deliv- participants, and Juravic was drawn to tears incurred ery. during childbirth because it seemed to him there was a vast clinical need. It was biomechanical, so he thought So far, Materna has completed its first in-woman trial for from his previous work he could offer a unique perspec- the device in Sydney, Australia. Why Australia? To work tive. Since the course, he began to work part-time on with Dr. Hans Peter Dietz, a thought leader in the effects nights and weekends on Materna, eventually quitting his of childbirth on the pelvic floor. With his expertise, the day job in 2010 when the startup secured its first round device was used on eight women. of funding for the device, $1 million from angel inves- Earlier this year, Materna moved into the Fogarty Insti- tors. tute for Innovation, a non-profit that works as an incu- Now, the company has a $1.2 million target in its sights bator for the medtech startups it selects. In the com- for this round, which will include some costs associated pany’s time there, Juravic said he will focus on gaining with regulatory filing. Juravic said more than half of that more clinical data. Because Fogarty is based on the El amount will come from existing investors. Camino Hospital campus, Juravic gets regular direct feedback from physicians on the device. Mike Stewart, As Materna continues onward and upward, Juravic the product designer and former product development looks forward to innovation in the obstetrics field. He engineer on projects for Boston Scientific (BSX), takes said because women’s health has been “ignored” for so that into account for device design and testing. It’s this long, innovators “are recognizing that there are lots of feedback that leads him to believe the dilator could be a unmet needs.” platform technology for Materna.

September 2013 32 MEDCITY Reports Startup Activity: Medical Devices & Diagnostics

A DIY body sensor kit for app developers and tinkerers – Sept 6, 2013 A hardware and software kit called BITalino includes a microcontroller unit, a battery block and a few different different physiological sensor modules that can be broken off and used individually or purchased in the form of an all-in- one board for prototyping. http://bit.ly/17Vvrlf

FDA approved device for noninvasive measure of cardiovascular stability raises $4M – Sept 9, 2013 A Pittsburgh company has developed a noninvasive FDA approved device that can measure oxygen saturation of arterial hemoglobin and pulse rate in adult and pediatric patients in realtime. http://bit.ly/1aYUzZA

Investors pump $19.8M into a medical device that seals varicose veins with glue- Sept 9, 2013 A new, minimally invasive treatment uses ultrasound and medical glue to seal up potentially problematic varicose veins in the leg. Investors have just injected $19.8 million into Morrisville, North Carolina-based medical device company Sapheon Inc., the company said. http://bit.ly/1aYUzZA

A rapid cooling device to help paramedics treat cardiac arrest patients finds Series A funding – Sept 10, 2013 Novocor Medical Systems Inc. is developing HypoCore, a device that’s designed to quickly cool saline as it’s admin- istered to patients to induce therapeutic hypothermia. http://bit.ly/1eeqc3n

Nurses hope hospitals say yes to NoNo Sleeve to cut medical errors – Sept 11, 2013 NoNo Sleeve can help nurses and prevent fatal mistakes. Call it a textile equivalent of a big stop sign warning nurses and other healthcare professionals to use the other arm. http://bit.ly/1aDG9i8

September 2013 33 MEDCITY Reports Startup Activity: Medical Devices & Diagnostics

Entrepreneur’s arthritic grandmother inspires a medtech fork + $9,500 IndieGogo campaign – Sept 16, 2013 When Rise Assistive Devices CEO Vadim Gordin tried to buy his grandmother a fork she could use more easily, what he found were forks jammed into bicycle handles. He used his biomedical engineering back- ground to construct and 3-D print what would become the Easy Fork for her. http://bit.ly/181qPZ1

Adhesion barrier company raises $525K to prevent internal scarring after surger – Sept 18, 2013 Alafair is developing a new material to keep tissues and organs separate while they heal. The product is a film created from naturally occurring sugar molecules that are well-established in wound healing and adhesion, the company says. http://bit.ly/1a6uW5p

Safety syringe maker SafeShot re-emerges with $6M in funding, new business strategy – Sept 23, 2013 After nearly three years out of the public eye, SafeShot Technologies announced today that it secured $6 million in financing from undisclosed investors, following up a $3 million angel round last fall. http://bit.ly/1ftZPEO

Zamzee brings QS data to doctors to help them motivate and monitor overweight/inactive kids – Sept 23, 2013 Third Eye Diagnostics has received a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to advance its novel approach to getting an accurate measure for intracranial pressure through the eye. http://bit.ly/14tBc6t

Wearable ReWalk device finds an investor and strategic partner in Japanese robotics firm– Sept 25, 2013 A couple of medical school professors at the University of Pennsylvania are using bioenergetics to address the ener- gy consumption problems associated with advanced chronic heart failure. http://bit.ly/16Ispwd

September 2013 34 MEDCITY Reports Startup Activity: Medical Devices & Diagnostics

Testing kit designed to more accurately ID thyroid disorders debuts on Indiegogo – Sept 25, 2013 As predicted, the next incremental advances in the growing A-fib heart space may very well be in contact force catheter technology. St. Jude’s Medical is banking on it. The company just acquired Endosense, a Switzerland company that creates contact force ablation catheter technology, for $170 million. http://bit.ly/16ZYC4l

Foundation Medicine rare example of IPO success for diagnostics company – Sept 26, 2013 An at-home, hand-held breast imaging device could help women see abnormalities between mammograms–if Eclipse Breast Health Technologies meets its $650,000 Indiegogo goal. http://bit.ly/1664rbY

September 2013 35 MEDCITY Reports Most Popular Startups This Month A list of the five startups that got the most attention from readers onMedCityNews.com .

1) Materna Medical

Materna Medical is at work on a device to help protect the more than 80 percent of women who suffer damage or tearing during childbirth.

If the device is brought to market, Mark Juravic said there are many value propositions: it could prevent vaginal tearing for the mother, prevent pelvic muscle damage to the mother, and, perhaps most interestingly, could potentially also offer shorter delivery times using less instruments.