Prescient Surgical, a Bay Area wound care startup that aims to reduce surgical site infection, has raised about $6 million, according to a regulatory filing.
The company’s staying pretty vague about the technology’s specifics, but president Jonathon Coe has said the company has “developed a platform technology that integrates fluid delivery with a novel wound retraction and protection system.” It’s undergoing clinical trials.
Studies have shown that surgical site infection costs about $21,000 on average to treat, increasing hospital stays by about 10 days. While overall about 2 to 5 percent of those undergoing inpatient surgery get these infections, that rate can rise up to 26 percent with abdominal GI operations like colorectal surgery, Prescient said.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
That’s why Prescient’s first working to roll out products for abdominal and laparoscopic surgeries, with plans to expand into vascular, orthopedic and endocrine surgeries.
The company’s led by Coe, a 10-year vet of the device industry who cofounded Prescient back in 2012 when he was a Stanford Biodesign Innovation Fellow. He had a fairly interesting interview earlier this year with the folks over at AngelMD. Here’s some of it:
What’s been your biggest challenge in bringing your product to market?
Jon: The regulatory process often requires extended timelines, but I view this to be more of a commercial risk than a project risk. The reason is that you’re delaying the learning process. For us, clinical trials have provided a valuable opportunity to “break the radio silence” and learn how the product will perform in the operating room. But even with success in the OR, it can be difficult to predict the complexities of market adoption. The sooner you run that experiment, the sooner you’re able to adapt to what you learn.
What enabling technology do you think has the most potential to transform health and wellness over the next eighteen months? Next five years?
Jon: Tough question. It’s a big world out there, and the technologies that will have the most impact are probably the ones we’re least aware of. I’d have to say that a malaria vaccine would do wonders to raise the tide of global health, and maybe that’s 5 years out. In the next 18 months, emerging technologies that address infant and/or maternal mortality will have an immediate impact once deployed. Overall, however, I think we’re going to see the most impact from policy changes, frankly. Universal coverage in the U.S., but it pales in comparison to China’s mandate to provide nationwide coverage by 2020 and the potential for India to deliver care in rural settings once dominated by Ayurvedic medicine.
What single role, process or productivity hack has helped your organization most?
Jon: Three words – mountain bike Thursdays
