Benevolent Technologies for Health (BeTH), a two-year old Boston materials startup, is focusing on medical device design to bring patients with lower limb loss customizable interface for their prosthetics.
The company’s material is “jammable,” which basically means it can take on any shape. In the world of prosthetics, that means sockets, liners or inserts to adjust to the body’s everyday fluctuations, rather than tightening or cramping, BeTH Co-Founder and CEO Jason Hill said.
For patients, that means more comfort, higher quality of life and potentially less visits for fittings (i.e. more time and less bills). Now, Hill said, it takes on average more than two weeks to get a proper fit.
“Our hope is to do a same day fitting: Come in the door, get fit,” Hill said. “Our aim is really to beat the more structural materials fabrication.”
He said giving the prosthetist a product that can be adjusted multiple times in one day would do this. But how?
Co-Founder Elizabeth Tsai said to imagine how this material works, to think of a vacuum-packed brick of coffee grounds. It’s rigid, but if the bag is opened, the “material” becomes malleable. Letting in air allows the shape to be changed and customized.
At WIRED, she explained the obstacle of designing dynamic medtech:
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.
“Customisation in medical devices may be addressed, at least in part, by an increased push towards rapid manufacturing. But, as patients change, so our devices must also be dynamic. At Benevolent Technologies for Health, we see wearable medical devices of the future — such as orthotics and prosthetics — as responsive and augmentative artefacts capable of adapting to your body over time in terms of materials, response, geometry and design.”
“It’s advanced material technology, but it’s almost not,” Tsai said. While much is still under wraps, she added the proprietary technology is mostly found in the design, rather than the material. She claimed this should allow the company to keep pricepoints low.
“We enable custom fit without custom fabrication,” Hill said.
When the initial concept for the interface (as a socket) was hatched at Hacking Medicine in 2012, the idea was to bring affordable fit to the developing world. But now, the scope of potential patients has expanded. Hill said American veterans are a top priority, and the company has applied for a grant to work with the Department of Defense. BeTH also wants to target diabetic patients who’ve had amputations.
The startup plans to begin raising seed funding this year, and is working with thought leaders to critique the design. Depending on a grant application, initial testing could begin as early as the fall. As a Class I device, the regulatory considerations are centered on reimbursement, Hill said.
The company has run lean since its beginnings–snagging prize money to fuel growth. Since then, the company has received the MIT 100k Accelerate Award, plus 2nd place in the Mass Challenge CASIS Prize, and was runner-up at M2D2.
While Hill said the natural progression for the company is toward orthotics, bracing and potentially other kinds of rehabilitation robotics, he and Tsai agreed the focus would remain on the first product for now.
As for the acronym–BeTH–it’s just coincidence it’s one of the founders’ names, though the coincidence provides a few laughs, Tsai said.
To read about another innovative startup with adjustable prosthetics solutions, check out this story about LIM Innovations.
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