Devices & Diagnostics, Hospitals

Searching for a med device accelerator? Texas Medical Center hosts 11 device startups

In its third year, TCMx, the accelerator program at Texas Medical Center Innovation Institute, decides to work with medical device entrepreneurs, traditionally the neglected lot in curriculums of many healthcare accelerators.

By Arundhati Parmar on August 10, 2016

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There aren’t too many accelerators out there that cater to medical device startups, which have a longer, steeper regulatory hill to climb than is compatible with healthcare accelerator business models.

Or is palatable to their investors.

Now the largest medical center in the world is training its focus on device companies. Texas Medical Center’s Innovation Institute announced Wednesday that 11 medical device startups are headed to the medical center for a 15 week program.

TCMx, as the accelerator program is called, has invited startups to Houston previously for two years in a row, but this marks the very first time that the program is being exclusively dedicated to medical device companies.

“Very few accelerators have a robust program devoted to medical device startups, so we are filling a huge gap in the life sciences ecosystem,” said Erik M. Halvorsen, Ph.D., director of the TMC Innovation Institute, in a statement. ”

The only other medtech accelerator that immediately comes to mind is Zeroto510 based in Memphis, Tennessee, whose name is inspired from the 510(k) clearance regulatory pathway used at the Food & Drug Administration to green light most devices.

But Zeroto510 uses the simple agreement for future equity  (SAFE model as conceived by YCombinator, the well-known tech accelerator) in exchange for a $50,000 investment whereas TMCx takes no equity and doesn’t appear to be providing investment either. The Texas accelerator requests that at least one founder from the startups selected be present in Houston for the 15-week program period. The program ends with Demo Day on November 2016.

Through the program, entrepreneurs will be introduced to stakeholders in the 56 member institutions that make up the Texas Medical Center, including physicians and scientists that serve the community.

Close access to a clinical environment is a definite plus for any healthcare accelerator program but is especially valuable for device startups given that the industry’s products are typically used by physicians.

Although this year, the focus is on devices, next year TCMx is back to selecting digital startups. The goal is to alternate curriculum tracks on medical devices and digital health, an interesting and savvy play given the convergence occurring in healthcare and the rise of connected devices through the Internet of Things. Applications for the fourth class made of digital health cohorts will begin to be accepted starting Aug. 17.

So who are the 11 medical device startups that make up the 2016 cohort? In alphabetical order and according to the press release, they are:

  • Allotrope Medical (Houston) provides precise ureter identification during minimally invasive surgery.
  • Bloom Labs (New York) has a credit-card sized rescue inhaler for asthma patients.
  • Blumio (San Francisco) is creating a sensor that can measure blood pressure continuously, without the need to rely on the use of an inflatable cuff.
  • Briteseed (Chicago) develops smart surgical tools that make surgeons more confident.
  • Flexios (Houston)provides streamlined surgical solutions for tendon repair that improve strength, smoothness, and patient satisfaction.
  • IntuiTap Medical (Houston) has a handheld device that eliminates the guesswork from spinal taps.
  • NovaScan (Milwaukee) is pioneering an oncology diagnostic platform that provides highly accurate, instantaneous detection of cancer without capital equipment.
  • Otricath (Houston) is a catheter system changing the rules in the delivery of liver cancer treatment.
  • Voyager Biomedical (College Station, Texas)is creating a better solution for vascular access in dialysis patients.
  • WeaRobot (Monterrey, Mexico) is an active exoskeleton for seniors and the physically impaired.
  • WestFace Medical(Seattle) puts imaging at the tip of any needle providing clinician guidance to improve clinical outcomes, lower costs and increase patient satisfaction.

Photo: Getty Images, Yuri_Arcurs