This week, mHUB sat down with three teams that have created new, disruptive devices that are used to monitor patients in the hospital or care facility. Get to know a little more about Ping, ProMedix, and Walela from their CEO’s Sean Liu, Scott Filer, and James Balman.
Where did your idea and value proposition begin?
Tell us about the growth you’ve experienced since your launch.
Liu: We launched at the beginning of 2021. After inviting a group of colleagues at the Chicago Booth MBA program to join in, we competed and received funding from the New Venture Challenge at the school. We filed our provisional patent on our proprietary patent application and developed our beta product. We launched it from March and May in 2021 and gained 10 eldercare enterprise customers. Since then, we raised funding from an executive from AARP, mHub product impact fund, and Harvard Business School Angels Chicago. With all the lessons we learned from our first launch, we learned a ton of lessons from customers which we are utilizing in building our next product.
Filer: In light of the fact that our company started in Portland (@ Oregon Health & Science University, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital), naturally most of the support of our device started in the Pacific Northwest – we have garnered a lot of momentum from the Consortium for Technology Innovation in Pediatrics CTIP. Moreover, we received non-dilutive investments from Ideaship and Elevate Capital. We are also members of the Oregon Biosciences Incubator. Over the past 18 months, we have conducted our pre-sub meeting with the FDA (with subsequent feedback for the pursuit of our 510K). At present, our third prototype is collecting patient data in an IRB/Clinical study at OHSU. We will likely have nearly 600 patients enrolled this coming spring.
Balman: Since launching we have:
On a personal note, mHUB feels like I found my tribe. This is where I am supposed to be. I’ve grown in appreciation for the help that is being offered. It’s more than just building a product, it’s defining the purpose for my passion.
What does the future look like?
Liu: Ping aspires to be the market leader in the AgeTech space. We will focus on building a strong brand in the US market. In the long run, this would help us expand into some of the most populous countries like China, India, and Japan, all of which are experiencing tremendous aging problems.
Filer: As we continue to enhance our product and prepare it for eventual licensing with a major medical device manufacturer; especially as our solution fits well into the growing trend of closed-loop systems in care delivery (we certainly are a great fit in that regard) – it has nonetheless become clear that there is a fairly wide array of market segments for ProMedix to consider. The balancing act will be to remain laser-focused on one viable exit (licensing our IP to an MDM) whilst remaining sufficiently flexible to take advantage of, as well as be positioned to monetize other opportunities that FlowSense likely fits in the marketplace.
Balman: Right now we are laser-focused on bringing this product to FDA clearance. In 5 years, Walela will be a global supplier of maternal and fetal health monitoring systems. We will then expand into the wearable market, aggregating our proprietary data to further improve pregnancy diagnostic care and birthing outcomes.
What value are new monitoring technologies providing to patients and health care providers? How will this change outcomes?
Liu: Predictive analytics is the natural progression that evolved from simply capturing data and analyzing historical trends. By predicting adverse health events that are likely to happen, the information calls for better care plans and interventions in place. It improves outcomes and reduces overall cost and ultimately keeps people safer and healthier.
Filer: In healthcare (as in the battlefield), intelligence is everything. The more information clinicians have for sake of decision support, the greater the efficacy of care. That said, as the healthcare landscape begins to adopt machine learning, data (and more accurate inputs) are clearly key to maximizing the utility of predictive analysis. Thus, the greater our ability to forecast the predicted outcome of a given pathology or morbidity for patients, the greater likelihood that patients will recover/suffer less of those morbidities, and even experience fewer mortalities. As a result, monitoring technologies are taking on ever-increasing importance from simply a set of figures/outputs that a physician must interpret to deliver care, to direct data inputs to accelerate bedside decision making and improve upon physician’s hypothetical deduction – streamlining care, and standardizing same. Bottom line (and in this order) … better data MEANS better analytics MEANS better care delivery MEANS better outcomes.
Balman: The technological advancement of devices will be second to the data analytics provided. In other words, once these biometrics can be aggregated and analyzed in full view, we will see an exponential surge with the intention focused on preventative care. Instead of a single point of data, healthcare providers can see baseline then cause and affect. This will translate into real-time dosage modifications, earlier diagnosis, adherence, gene modification therapies, etc.
Ultimately these will be used to build AI-trained “health” systems that continue to learn our individual needs and become better able to mitigate and more effectively optimize us as an individual.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
Liu: Sticking to a well-organized, well-integrated calendar and a set of to-dos that reflect our short-term (as short as “daily” and “weekly”) and long-term goals.
Filer: Not certain any of this makes me more productive – but, daily exercise (Peloton has been my savior these past two years), and (as often as feasible) reading (especially subjects tangential or completely off of my area of focus and/or business concern – both fiction and nonfiction). I’m presently reading The Changing World Order, by Ray Dalio (a sad reminder that I should’ve pursued a career in macroeconomics) and A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.
Balman: I’m relentless. Like an extended car warranty salesman. In seriousness, one habit that I try to adhere to that makes me more productive is this. I get all of my creative thoughts out each week. At least once a week I dump everything on the paper. That includes Sketches, concepts, data flows, humor, everything. My head is constantly inventing. Capturing all of those thoughts physically allows me to cleanse my mind, adapt if needed, focus, and plan.