The incubator 1776 is hosting a Challenge Cup for healthcare. Of the 16 startups selected for the Challenge Festival, five are from outside the U.S. They reflect a broad swathe of companies trying to fix some of the biggest pain points in healthcare such as care coordination, cost and access. Here’s a link to the presentations.
Here’s a list of the startups taking part along with a brief description of what they’re doing:
Medicinia (Sao Paulo, Brazil) is an alternative healthcare delivery model, based on online, high-frequency interactions to complement the traditional office-based, low-frequency model, increasing doctor productivity and patient satisfaction. It does this through a question and answer platform to connect patients with doctors and general practitioners with specialists.
Anasodiabitiz (Cape Town, South Africa) connects people, support groups, health care providers and companies that work together locally to make diabetes less of a scourge.
MediSafe (Tel Aviv, Israel) is a cloud-based, medication-management platform designed to understand the personal causes of non-adherence. The platform uses this information in real time to create better patient engagement and raise medication adherence.
Zest.md (New Delhi, India) provides an e-clinic platform for health coaches. The company allows health coaches to see more clients in less time by automating marketing and communication, allowing them to grow their clinics and bring down the cost overall for the patient.
Coyote Bioscience (Beijing, China) makes innovative personal devices in life science and molecular diagnostics. The company minimizes all of the redundant features and makes the key functions more powerful and user-friendly. Coyote’s devices are easy to handle and set, which can save on labor costs significantly.
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.
The rest of the companies include:
Focus Fertility (New York, New York) is a suite of services that equips women and their partners with information they need to efficiently navigate the process of fertility treatments, saving them time, money and stress.
BeTH (Boston, Massachusetts) develops high-impact, low-cost healthcare solutions for underserved populations.
Spot On Sciences (Austin, Texas) is an easy-to-use device for self-sampling and robust storage and shipment of blood samples. This product allows users to take a blood sample at any time, anywhere.
ePatientFinder (Wildcard) is a tool that uses analytics technology to connect patients with cutting-edge treatments which are recently approved by the FDA or still in clinical trials.
Asius Technologies (Denver, Colorado) has an inflatable in-ear audio technology, the Ambrose Diaphonic Ear Lens. When used in hearing aids, headsets and ear buds, the Adel gives the user a richer sound quality, a custom fit and a safe listening experience.
Neural Analytics (Los Angeles, California): Bleeding or swelling of the brain due to head trauma can increase the pressure inside a patient’s skull (ICP), which is dangerous and may be fatal if left untreated. Recognizing this unmet need, researchers in the UCLA Department of Neurosurgery have developed a non-invasive alternative to assess elevated ICP, and Neural Analytics is building RapidICP, a hand-held head trauma screening tool that encapsulates this technology.
Dorsata (Washington, D.C.) aims to improve patient outcomes and reduce the cost of delivering care by providing a centralized platform for clinical pathway development and ultimately EHR implementation. Dorsata is developing a system through which clinicians can collaboratively develop, discover and implement their pathways into their day-to-day workflow of order entry.
Caremerge (Chicago, Illinois) is a healthcare coordination and transition platform. Its mobile and web apps allow senior living communities to simplify their care coordination efforts with various onsite and offsite stakeholders (facility staff, physicians, hospitals and families), all of which provide care for residents.
Cancer IQ (Chicago, Illinois) enables data-driven personalized cancer care. This startup offers a web-based service that closes gaps in knowledge by giving oncologists access to a large, curated repository of similar patients, guidelines and network of providers at top institutions and by using algorithms to interpret molecular diagnostic data and identify high risk patients.
ChronoKair (Wildcard) is a smartphone and tablet application that provides a comprehensive and visual summary of the patient’s hospital course and/or treatment record as well as his or her projected trajectory on one screen using real-time objective data in an easily consumable design. This technology facilitates and reinforces the communication and decisions made during “shift change” when doctors hand off their patients, daily rounding, patient care phone calls and other telemedicine. It is easily navigable and customizable by each provider.
