April 19, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Four new life science startups were honored at the recent MedCity INVEST healthcare investing conference in Chicago this week.
Attendees at the conference, which included investors from more than 60 healthcare funds, offered up a variety of companies in four categories, diagnostics, medical devices, digital health and biopharma. Three judges reviewed the larger list, then the remaining investors contributed a fourth ‘crowd’ score made up of an average score.
Here are the four winners.
Breath Diagnostics
Breath Diagnostics, located in Louisville, Ky, has a patented technology that can detect if a patient has lung cancer by analyzing the patient’s breath. It has been studied to date in over 700 patients, and, according to the company website, analyzes “a patient’s breath with parts per billion accuracy, allowing very early detection.”
Breath Diagnostics was co-founded by Michael Bousamra, who is also president, and Michael Nantz. Bousamra is an associate professor of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. Nantz is the chair of the department of chemistry at the University of Louisville, and was instrumental in designing a critical component of the microreactor used in the company’s device, aminooxy compound ATM. Xiao-An (Sean) Fu is vice president and Victor van Berkel is secretary. Richard Rummel is chief executive officer.
physIQ
Naperville, Ill.-based physIQ, formerly called VGBio, has a personalized physiology data analytics platform. The technology tracks and integrates various biometrics in order to detect clinically meaningful changes against the individual’s baseline data, as opposed to the more typical population-based “norm.”
On Mar. 1, at the 2016 HIMSS Conference in Las Vegas, the company announced it had partnered with Vital Connect, a leader in wearable biosensor technology for wireless hospital and remote patient monitoring.
The two companies are offering their technology platforms to pharmaceutical companies and health systems in support of clinical trials related to technology-enabled care coordination for heart failure and COPD. It also has potential for clinical use cases in other areas, including renal disease, oncology, and CNS disorders.
Sparrow Pharmaceuticals
Sparrow Pharmaceuticals, located in Chicago, is focused on developing corticosteroid drugs, as well as the first antibody to treat post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to the company website, it has licensed an investigation that “when combined with a corticosteroid, will create products with potent anti-inflammatory efficacy and reduce side effect risk.” It is initially being developed as an oral formulation to treat polymyalgia rheumatic and giant cell arteritis. It also has plans to develop an ophthalmic formulation for anterior uveitis, inflammation of the eye wall.
Sparrow was founded by David Katz in November 2013. Prior to that he was in neuroscience development at AbbVie and at Abbott Labs .
Trice Medical
King of Prussia, Pa.-based Trice Medical is in the medical device category. The company has developed integrated camera-enabled needle technologies for orthopedic use. The technology, mi-eye, is “a fully disposable, single-use, streamlined visualization device that uses a standard 14-gauge needle with an integrated camera and light source to perform a diagnostic arthroscopy—all while in the physician’s office during the initial consultation.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the product for patient use in 2014.
