It’s not your typical entrepreneur story. Mom, Dr. Marybeth Spanarkel, is a gastroenterologist and sees an unmet need in colonoscopies. She asked her sons to develop a device to help overcome the problem of looping. That’s when the endoscope tube forms loops behind the tip. It can increase the time the procedure takes, cause discomfort for the patient and lead to incomplete procedures.
Cue ColoWrap — an elastic fabric belt resembling a much thinner version of a weightlifting belt developed by her sons James and John Hathorn. The company has raised its first seed money from six angel investors.
About 14 million colonoscopies are performed each year. A couple of ways physicians currently try to resolve looping is by changing a patient’s position or applying manual force.
During a phone interview with James Hathorn, he described the wrap as a noninvasive, disposable medical device. It goes around the patient just under the belly button. It exerts and provides counter pressure around the sigmoid colon — the most common site where looping occurs, Hathorn said. In a pilot using the wrap, Hathorn said it helped standardize and reduce the amount of pressure physicians need to apply. It has also improved patient comfort.
“We are very excited to have found something that seems to address anxieties around colonoscopies,” Hathorn said.
It will use the $220,000 it raised to conduct additional studies at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and advance the development of the device.
He said he’s pumped about the angel investors the company has assembled. One of them is Phil Blizzard, the entrepreneur behind Thundershirts — a shirt that resembles swaddling for dogs to ease their anxieties during a thunderstorm and other stressful situations. He is also a board member.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Hathorn’s brother, John, is a shareholder and their mother is a member of the scientific advisory board.
“If we find down the road that this device improves patient comfort and reduces anxiety around the procedure that would be a huge thing to contribute and would be fantastic,” Hathorn said. “My general sense is there are lots of opportunities for niche products that solve real problems.”
