Staying stationary is one of the worst ways to exacerbate a breathing disorder – without activity and exercise, patients with conditions like COPD, interstitial lung disease and in need of lung transplant can go downhill, fast.
Anaheim-based Breathe Technologies has designed a lightweight breathing device that helps patients get on their feet faster – and breathe easy.
Its palm-sized NIOV device is far more portable than the standard, bulky machine that’s carted around with an oxygen tank. It still needs that pressurized oxygen cylinder to work – but the machine cuts about 15 pounds for a patient to carry around, Mastrovich said.
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“Why this is so significant: Patients are normally very sedentary, and have a hard time exercising, let alone doing any basic, daily living activities,” Mastrovich said. “People that are sick have a hard time getting out of a chair – so going from the living room to the kitchen or up a set of stairs may be out of the question.”
This sedentary behavior exacerbates breathing disorders – so Breathe’s devices are meant to help folks get mobile.
The NIOV actually shows some impressive numbers: For instance, there was a 213 percent increase in exercise endurance for patients that use the NIOV device versus patients using room air – 17.2 minutes versus 5.5 minutes, according to a study from the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute.
The market’s huge for this device, CEO Larry Mastrovich said. Some 15 million Americans are diagnosed with COPD, for instance, with 80 million worldwide – but the primary treatment is drugs like Spiriva and other breathing devices, like the VPAP system from ResMed.
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The NIOV can be set to three activity levels that dictate the amount of oxygen doled out to the patient: Resting, moderate and exercise. It’s meant to help reduce shortness of breath in users, up blood oxygen levels and, well, allow patients to breathe easy – and more efficiently.
The device can deliver between 50 ml and 250 ml of oxygen into the lungs, Mastrovich said. A healthy lung might move between 300 to 400 ml of air per breath – but an unhealthy patient is moving much less than that. These ventilators bring them up to snuff.
The device can be reimbursed in the hospital under the DRGs for ventilation, Mastrovich said. When used at home, managed care payors are valuing the device as a way to keep patients mobile and out of the hospital as well – so reimbursement isn’t much of an issue there, either.
The venture-funded company employs about 25, and has been around since 2005. Breathe Technologies’ investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., Dag Ventures, Delphi Ventures and Life Science Angels.
