Trends in Med Tech

IRegained is startup and social impact venture with a vision of helping patients regain their hand function after a stroke.

Their innovative device called MyHand leverages the principles of neuroplasticity by guiding patients through a series of highly personalized hand exercises that gradually rewire the brain around the affected area.

The device is meant to be used from the comfort of a patient’s home, which enables a more frequent and intense therapy regimen than traditional in-clinic appointments. Personalized, home-based care using an inexpensive device are key features that will broaden access and impact once the MyHand system is fully commercialized.

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In this episode we’re joined by Rukia Mire, Madison (Maddy) McBay and Jessica Lunshoff of Tamvoes, a digital health platform empowering individuals with their information and professionals with client management.

At its score, Tamvoes solves the longstanding problem of how to collect, story and easily transfer important and sensitive personal information with people and services you trust. Scaling this solution could reduce huge inefficiencies and prevent hurdles and barriers in the patient journey.

It was great to hear that this could be achieved while also ensuring high standards of data privacy and security, which is crucial part of the success of digital health adoption.

We loved this talk and hope you will too!

Check out the full episode with extras on the MedTech Trends Youtube Channel here: https://youtu.be/eC8g43UkYoo 

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💯 Find out more about Tamvoes:

Wouldn’t it be great to have a team of coaches to help you through your day-to-day life?   

Realizing that people have complex and ever-changing health needs – something that healthcare systems are not well equipped to handle - YourCoach has set out to enable people to improve their health and wellness through a holistic approach and a “squad” of certified coaches.   Health and wellness coaches are becoming an important part of integrated health and wellness teams and are increasingly being recognized by industry bodies. 

Coaches are also getting the attention of trade and non-profit organizations that largely shape the healthcare sector.   

One of the most exciting opportunities here (to me) is that YourCoach has the potential to enhance personalized health and wellness plans, in real-time, through a holistic team of expert certified coaches to essentially any individual. This level of service has historically been reserved for executives who would pay top dollar for teams to help them maintain a high level of performance by managing their exercise, diet, sleep, stress and other facets of health and wellness.   

Stay tuned as they unveil the YourCoach platform and features in 2021. We loved this talk and hope you will too!

Check out the full length episode on our Youtube channel MedTech Trends: https://youtu.be/FQY8Iwb35ZY

💯 Find out more about YourCoach:

Open Orphan is paving the way for the large-scale adoption of “human challenge studies” for vaccine development.

Although this unique study design has been around for over 40 years and has been used to test a variety of vaccines and anti-virals for disease such as, cholera, influenza, asthma and RSV, among many others, the challenge model has recently gained a lot of attention globally due to Open Orphan’s pioneering its use for covid-19.

What’s more, these studies hold potential to supplement, or perhaps one day substitute, traditional phase 2 clinical trials and to be used as part of regulatory decision process for new vaccines.

Considering the current pace and global interest in these advancements, it’s not an overstatement to say that this could be a major leap for all stakeholders involved in supporting global public health through vaccines.

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Open Orphan (ORPH) is a publicly traded vaccine-development (CRO) company with offices in London, Dublin, Paris and the Netherlands. Its two main subsidiaries, hVIVO and Venn Life Sciences, are well-established in vaccine testing and regulatory consulting with a combined 50 years of experience servicing among the largest of vaccine manufacturers in the world.

As we learned from speaking with Cathal in this episode, the company has grown tremendously over the last two years and was profitable in Q4 2020, driven by its existing CRO-based services.

Among its several non-core assets is a hugely exciting data repository and analytics platform called Disease in Motion, which is about to be made commercially available to medical device companies (e.g., wearables) and vaccine manufacturers who would like to use its longitudinal disease progression data.

If you would like to learn more about these studies or to participate in one, check out these pages for more information:

Zied Tayeb, CEO and Samaher Garbaya, COO co-founded two award-winning startups that are poised to bring impactful innovation in both health-tech (Myelin-H) and space tech (Myelin-S).

Their mission statements are:

🏥 🧠 Myelin-H: to allow clinicians to remotely diagnose and monitor the health statuses of their patients anywhere, anytime, regardless of their physical locations.

&

📡 🚀 Myelin-S: to bring neuromorphic computing for in-space autonomy & making new strides in human-robot cooperation in outer space.

Both companies are founded on a software platform created by the co-founders called Body-Mirror that allows controllers (people) to interact with objects via a brain-computer interface.

Their unique solution and value propositions present interesting opportunities. In the health-tech space, this includes diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases, remote disease progression monitoring and potentially even prognosis. In the space-tech space, this includes teleoperating for space exploration, on-orbit servicing and space exploration.

Both companies are well underway in their testing phases, and they are growing their partnerships with key industry players.

We learned a lot about their startup journies and ambitions for the coming years, and we look forward to hearing more about their successes in the next talk.

If you’re passionate about healthcare and space, have a listen and enjoy!

On this podcast we are always looking for innovative technologies and services that address unmet need in healthcare, expand access to essential and effective healthcare and improve outcomes for both patients and providers. So, we were excited at the opportunity to speak with Tim from Caravan Health!

While ACO’s may not have the appeal of flashy new gadgets from the big-four tech companies, underneath their modest surface is a program with huge potential to impact lives. Accountable Care Organizations are the result of a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) program aimed at incentivizing the rapid adoption of value-based care. These programs, if implemented effectively and sustainably, could save CMS hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars, by actually expanding healthcare access in both rural and urban communities, all while maintaining high standards of quality care.

Caravan Health has been leading the way in the world of ACO’s and has become a model for others through its proven method that ‘makes the numbers work’. The numbers speak for themselves: 26k providers in their network, 300+ organizations, ~600k attributed Medicare lives, north of $100MM in total shared shaves (and projected to grow, as we learned from Tim in this episode), and 95% average MIPS (quality of care) score in 2019.

Caravan has a suite of solutions and a unique onboarding process that can help new members better manage their patients and also tap into shared savings with greater success than perhaps any other ACO in the industry. This involves a combination nurse-led service delivery, focus on preventive care, tapping into new billing codes and 340b discounts, and a few other key elements in their recipe for success.

We enjoyed speaking with Tim and learning more about ACO’s - and hope you will too!

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Digital therapeautics (DTx) are clinical intervention delivered as software that can help with medical ailments as wide ranging as asthma, epilepsy, IBS, depression, diabetes, arthritis, among many other conditions.   

Why do we bring this up now? A handful of DTx companies have been around for about a decade or so, but the pandemic has accelerated the development and release of these therapies, increased awareness among legislators and sparked talks among regulatory and reimbursement agencies to establish global standards for assessing safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness. If national programs are established to cover the cost of DTx and to create guidelines for prescribing DTx, this could have huge implications for healthcare systems, population health and especially for expanding access to under-served people, such as those living in rural areas.   

In this episode I spoke with Megan about how the Digital Therapeutics Alliance (DTA), a non-profit trade association with roots in at least 15 countries, is helping to advance DTx. Their mission is to “broaden the understanding, adoption and integration of clinically evaluated digital therapeutics” among key healthcare stakeholders.   

We hope you learn something from this talk – we sure did!   

Check out the full video episode on our Youtube Channel: https://youtu.be/yVw7kpfl2nQ

PAI Health’s mission is to become the new global standard for physical activity. And they are well on their way …

Everyone knows that physical activity is correlated with overall health, but have you ever wondered exactly how much activity is enough to keep your heart and body optimally healthy?

Enter PAI Health. The Personal Activity Intelligence (PAI) index is based on an algorithm that transforms heart rate data into a standardized, scientifically validated measure of cardiovascular fitness. The app is available for free to general consumers via an app store, and it’s also device agnostic so it will work with any platform that integrates PAI (disclaimer: I have it with my Fitbit).

PAI points can be gained through ANY physical activity that increases your heart rate. The higher your heart rate, the more PAI points you earn. Most importantly, maintaining 100 PAI on average over a 7-day period can dramatically improve your health and longevity. And it is personalized and adaptable to each individual’s level of physical fitness!

Originally developed by a research team based at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the PAI index is now backed by numerous peer-reviewed studies and is based on hundreds of thousands of individuals and well over a million person-years of data.

PAI Health has also developed unique solutions for insurers, employers and healthcare providers. In addition to a growing impact in the insurance and corporate wellness program markets, they are also focusing on cardiovascular health among diabetes patients, and are also pursuing solutions for engaging patients in clinical trials.

Check out the full video podcast on our Youtube Channel: https://youtu.be/oiHIOTA0a3I 

Despite the hardship brought on by the covid-19 pandemic, one of the silver linings (if we can say so) is the major shift toward digital access to healthcare around the world.

If access to affordable, timely and effective mental health services was a major challenge before the pandemic, what we’ve seen over the past year is a skyrocketing demand for these services coupled with an explosion of options for personalized therapies from companies like MindBeacon. Although there is still more work to be done in breaking down barriers to mental health services, MindBeacon is in a perfect position to make a lasting, high impact transformation in this healthcare segment with its recent offering in public markets.

As we discussed in this episode, the real barriers to mental health services go well beyond knowledge and education, and are more centered accessibility in terms of timing (getting intervention early), location (having to travel to a limited number of sites ,primarily in urban areas), logistics (including booking and scheduling appointments, and taking time away from work to attend appointments), stigma, privacy and many other issues.

MindBeacon is changing the game with offerings including self-guided therapy CBT, live therapy CBT. sessions and an education platform called Stronger Minds – all available online so people can get the help they want (or need) on their own terms. Never has obtaining mental health services been easier and more affordable to Canadians. And they are just getting started. MindBeacon is growing rapidly, even during the pandemic, and is in the process of hiring more therapists and data scientists who will collectively help to expand and personalize their offerings further.

It was a pleasure speaking with Sam and we look forward to hearing more about how this exciting company and will impact the healthcare system and improve people’s lives.

Check out the full video episode here: https://youtu.be/BZjOHa6TZ-4

Ayogo has been named one of the top 100 most innovative mHealth companies in the world - twice. And it’s easy to see why …    

Ayogo works with some of the biggest therapeutics companies in the world to build applications that use well-established principles of perceived self-efficacy and behaviour change to promote treatment adherence and improve health outcomes. 

They employ techniques used in game development in their designs, among which is the concept of adapting to overcome a challenge in an environment that is relatively low-risk. What’s really exciting is that their approach can be applied with great success in a wide range of therapy areas including in sleep medicine, diabetes, MS, dialysis, and even social interventions, among many others.    

Michael Fergusson is an entrepreneur, innovator, philanthropist and the CEO of Ayogo. He also serves on several Boards of Directors, including Innovate BC, a Provincial Crown Agency, and the Electric Company Theatre, one of the most innovative theatre companies in the world.  

In 2012, Michael was Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year and was also named to the PharmaVoice 100, a list of the 100 most inspiring people in Life Sciences. He was also a grand champion and a multi-gold medalist at the Western Canadian Martial Arts championships.  We hope you enjoy this conversation!  

Also check out the full episode on our Youtube Channel, MedTech Trends, here: https://youtu.be/hde80WNFQTQ

Find out more about Michael and Ayogo: 

Prior to founding MedStack Balaji Gopalan was perhaps best known as the Product Strategist who brought BlackBerry's iconic BBM service to market. Balaji is a passionate advocate of tech for good, platforms, data security and privacy and digital health.

In 2014 Balaji was looking to build a developer platform for a digital identification company called Nimy, and while holding a hackathon he serendipitously met his now co-founder of MedStack, Simon Woodside.

Fast-forward a few years and many accelerator-incubator experiences later – MedStack has affiliations with Dreamit Health, Creative Destruction Lab, 500 Startups, and Toronto’s DMZ – this partnership has grown to support over 70 (and still growing) digital health, health-tech and medical device companies in both the US Canada.

With a growing revenue stream, even through the pandemic, they are also backed by TELUS Ventures, ScaleUP Ventures, Panache Ventures, BCMF Ventures and the Ontario Centres of Excellence, among others, and have received numerous awards and recognitions including the Canadian Innovation Exchange Top 20, Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance Award, being named to PWC's list of top companies changing healthcare in Canada, and TechCrunch Disrupt pick.

When not leading his company MedStack or acting as mentor for accelerators, Balaji spends his time as a musician and songwriter, father and making breakfast. It was a pleasure getting to Balaji and his mission and vision of enabling companies to build better healthcare systems around the world.

Also check out the full episode on our YT channel, MedTech Trends: https://youtu.be/6Rgl1nsHdWM 

Robin Mossing is EVP of Clinical Operations at iWound, a digital platform that is revolutionizing wound care through clinical education, standardizing assessments and treatment plans, and longitudinal monitoring for improved outcomes. And this is just the tip of the iceberg in iWound’s vision.

Robin brings with him two decades of experience as a clinician and entrepreneur to this relatively new venture. Working with an executive team that includes Dave Westlake and Rob Garneau, both business and industry veterans, and through a joint venture with Baltimore-based Tissue Analytics, Robin has been co-developing the iWound app with particular emphasis on improving clinician education, patient outcomes and ultimately offering a cost-containment solution to a multi billion dollar healthcare niche.

In this episode we talked about the scope of the would care practice, the complexity of managing wound care treatment and how the iWound app standardizes care and provides on-going, longitudinal treatment updates through the various stages of healing. Beyond frontline care, iWound can help clinicians stay up to date on treatment guidelines and could be used to introduce new, more effective and cost-saving technologies for optimizing wound treatment.

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Also check out the full videocast on our Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/H8fWnzZt8zA 

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Dr. Elaine Chin is a physician, author, founder of multiple medical and wellness centers, thought leader in the field of precision and personalized medicine and a trailblazer in putting these principles into practice.

We introduced the idea that using technology available today – called precision diagnostics – physicians can assess a patient’s unique genes and other biological markers and then use this information to custom tailor a treatment and wellness plan to that patient.

Precision medicine has grown in popularity in recent years, supported by new research and a widening scope of practice. To me, what is most exciting is the application of precision diagnostic tools to guide patients into lifestyle changes that can prevent later onset of disease, as well its application to optimizing health and wellness – two areas with immense social and public health potential.

Find out more

Bill Haack, CEO and Greg Schafer, CCO are part of a seasoned team that is leading an initiative to transform the way in which responsiveness to cancer treatment is assessed. If all goes to plan, the technology being developed at Cadex Genomics could impact the course of treatment for millions of late-stage (solid state) cancer patients worldwide.

At the heart of the matter is a blood-based assay called Alibrex which uses a low-cost PCR protocol to examine cell-free DNA. By comparing two blood draws taken ~2 weeks apart in patients being treated for cancer, the test is used to determine whether a tumor is responding to that treatment. The key is in its 24-hour turn-around time to assess responsiveness, which allows quicker adjustments in treatment than currently possible and may help to prevent side effects associated with unnecessary or ineffective therapies.

Though still in clinical development at sites in the US, Canada and Israel, early results have shown the test to be highly specific, meaning that it correctly identifies non-responsive (disease-progressing) patients 100% of the time, thereby flagging patients who require a different course of treatment.

With a new funding round well underway they plan to complete algorithm validation by 2020/early 2021 and to begin commercialization in mid-2021. We wish them all the best as they roll out this important development in oncology molecular diagnostics.

While completing his PhD Richard worked to design and build a hand-held bioprinter – ReverTome - that can be used in real clinical settings to treat patients surviving severe burns.

But what is bioprinting and how does it work? Can this unique bioprinter really regenerate skin? We answer these and a few other questions – stay tuned in!

Richard also gives advice to biologists aspiring to broaden their pallet of research expertise with biomedical engineering. For anyone interested in translational research and commercialization of med tech this is a great listen and we hope you are inspired!

If you’ve ever been in an emergency department you’ve probably noticed how busy, chaotic, exhausting and uncomfortable it can be. But ED’s are also places where highly trained professionals cope with extremely challenging work conditions in order to save patients’ lives.   

So, how can an ED be improved to optimize healthcare service delivery, to help ensure that providers spend most of their time helping patients and to maximize the experiences and satisfaction of both patients and providers? It’s a big goal – one that will take a smart, dedicated and passionate team to accomplish.   

QiiQ Healthcare is targeting these problems with a technology built for health systems and healthcare providers that could greatly improve ED workflows and have substantial down-steam effects on wait times and patient satisfaction. In this episode we dive into the vision of the company through the lens of its founder, Dave Brown, and medical officer, Dr. Thanos Melisiotis.

Dr. Paul Kudlow MD PhD is a physician-scientist, father, Founder/Advisor and former CEO of TrendMD – the largest native advertising platform for academic research that reaches over 150 million unique visitors per month. 

In this episode I talked to Paul about his transition from medical residency into founding and running TrendMD, the early stages and the ins and outs of his company, its unique value proposition, as well as his decision to ultimately get back into psychiatry. With a ton of experience under his belt, Paul shared some of the key learnings that shaped both his company and early career. He now serves as an Advisor to TrendMD while also pursuing new information technology ventures and simultaneously helping patients through his clinical practice.   

In this episode I spoke with Rob Iaboni of CoHealth App, a digital health startup that was founded in Toronto in 2016. Since joining CoHealth App in 2017 Rob Iaboni has been instrumental in growing its partnerships and customer base (primarily hospitals and primary care clinics) and along with this its real world impact on patients. Today he leads all commercial aspects of CoHealth and has helped grow the company grow from just 3 centers to over 50 across Canada, and they're now expanding into the US.  

We spoke about the need for patient-focused digital ecosystems in healthcare and some of the challenging of bringing innovative technologies into the healthcare setting. One of the main areas that CoHealth is focusing on is how to keep patients informed about their health once they leave hospitals by providing them a tool to personalized care plans. We also touched on the topic of formal education and how it does or doesn’t prepare people for life on the entrepreneurial road.   

Throughout the conversation I could tell Rob is passionate about improving the healthcare system and the ways in which patients interact with it. As healthcare is just recently entering the digital revolution, and as more information becomes available to help patients make better decisions about their own health, companies like CoHealth will be there to bridge gaps and bring personalized care into the hands of patients.

In this episode of Trends in MedTech we speak with Saud Juman, founder and former CEO of Policy Medical, a governance, risk and compliance management software for healthcare enterprises. Saud takes us through his journey of first coming up with the idea to solve a particular problem that healthcare facilities were facing, to launch and growing a full-fledged medium sized company, and then leading the successful acquisition of Policy Medical and subsequently exiting the company for a new beginning. As a young guy in his 20’s, Saud found himself driven by a passion to do meaningful work and the pursuit of helping others. While working for a healthcare company, he serendipitously found an opportunity to make a real difference by creating a software solution that he knew already knew was in demand. This led to the beginnings of what later became Policy Medical, which now holds thousands of clients, and has reach hundreds of thousands of healthcare providers across North America. What struck me the most is that Saud sets a great example of the importance of learning by doing. One of the key messages in this episode is the power of listening attentively and learning from customers. If there is one ingredient that has made all the difference in the evolution and success of Policy Medical – this was it. Throughout the episode we also spoke about adapting to clients’ changing needs, paying attention to industry trends, such as the movement toward greater commoditization in a once niche software solutions space, and the importance of listening to your body’s needs for balance. It was also a pleasant surprise to hear Saud give so much weight to the impact that his family life had on his professional success. Although Saud is no longer officially affiliated with Policy Medical, he remains a big fan of the company and what it represents. Saud is optimistic about what the future has in store, especially as he grows his coaching practice and is able to spend more time with his family, perhaps before starting his next venture.

In this episode we spoke with Dr. Ilan Shahin, a practicing physician-entrepreneur who has co-founded ConsultLoop, a health service navigation software that helps providers better track and manage patient referrals. One of the care problems that ConsultLoop is addressing is the lack of standardization in the traditional, paper or fax-based referral process that often results in patients falling through the cracks (still very much an issue day). A significant chunk of referrals are lost, and those missed appointments, in some cases, lead to inadvertent harm. The booking process is also very tedious for patients and providers alike. ConsultLoop address inefficiencies in the referral process, but also aims to provider better access and better service to patients and providers. Since its inception in 2016 the company has built a directory of over 5000 specialists and services primarily across the greater Toronto area, and has facilitated well over 25,000 referrals. The software works alongside existing electronic medical record platforms, and was designed with easy functionality in mind so that it doesn’t disrupt clinical workflows. The company is also expanding the platform to offer more integrated features for patients to navigate healthcare services they need, and to engage with the service when they have questions. We also spoke about the broader implications of wait times on the healthcare system, current models of healthcare delivery, and the importance of integrating high-quality services into new healthcare technologies so they can be adopted more readily. Ilan was a pleasure to speak with as he offered his personal insights as a practicing family and emergency doctor. I look forward to seeing the company grow to provide greater access to more patients across Canada.

In this episode we spoke with Dr. Damon Ramsey, CEO, and Dr. Puneet Seth, Chief Medical Officer, of InputHealth, a healthcare software company that has developed a collaborative health record system to provide higher value service to physicians and patients. Healthcare, unlike many other industries, is not traditionally one in which technology disruption are often met with praise. The nuances of healthcare service delivery, the potential impact clinical care and on patients lives, and the ubiquitous need to document in medical practice present challenges for healthcare entrepreneurs. But InputHealth is setting an example. Through its collaborations and partnerships, InputHealth has shown how its system can be used in real world practice to improve clinical workflows, increase efficiencies and have higher quality service that results in greater satisfaction to patients. The system can also help to avoid unnecessary visits, since patients can give their information ahead of time to clinics, and then have a consultation over video from the comfort of their homes. In addition, their system allows important information to be collected longitudinally so that physicians can study their patients. We also spoke about the implications of using their technology on healthcare infrastructure more broadly, and the numerous benefits to both physicians and patients.  

In this episode Sean Costella takes us through the events leading up to his diagnosis of a rare disease, a cavernoma, and how he took a leap of faith on one doctor’s opinion that ended up saving his life. When his symptoms got so bad that they couldn’t be ignored, Sean underwent an emergency surgery. Luckily, that surgery went well, but when he woke up he couldn’t see. After a long, and very difficult, recovery, Sean has returned to a pretty normal life. Through this experience he’s grown to appreciate the simple things in life that we often take for granted. Sean is especially grateful for his wife, who not only helped him through months of rehabilitative therapy, she also did this while taking care of their newly born first daughter. He now brings this newfound perspective into his work as a territory manager at Horizon Pharma, a company that focuses on rare disease medicines, where he connects with physicians and patients on a personal level. 

Sean’s positivity is admirable. 

In this episode we hear from Dr. Patrick Anquetil, CEO of Portal Instruments, a medical device company based in Boston, MA that aims to make needles and syringes a thing of the past. I asked Patrick about his journey from graduate research to becoming an equity analyst, and then returning to Harvard Business School to pursue his entrepreneurial interests. In his most recent venture, Portal Instruments, his team has developed a novel drug delivery technology originally licensed from MIT (lab of Dr. Ian Hunter), and is commercializing this technology through partnership with Takeda. We talked about the advantages of this technology over traditional needles and syringes, and what this means for patients with various chronic conditions that need to self-medicate. It was also inspiring to hear him speak about the importance of creating the right workplace culture to support integrated teamwork and innovation. He has a unique approach to leadership, and as I found out, also has a talent for being an educator. Most importantly, he is a visionary, an innovator, and he is just starting to tap into the potential of this new technology. 

In this episode we have an insightful and delightful conversation with Dr. Taylor Bean, a practicing Naturopath Doctor based in British Columbia, about the naturopathic approach to healing, and how this can be used to optimize care for patients. It was fascinating to hear her about experiences working in an Asian healthcare system, and how vaccination practices differ across regions. We dive into her perspective on caring for complex patients with Lyme disease, and on maternal care. We also spoke about the new world of abundant medical information, and the use of use of various technologies within her practice to help optimize care. You just might re-think your primary healthcare provider - stay tuned!