Investment in the healthcare diagnostics industry has been building momentum and the sector has enjoyed almost nonstop funding increases since 2009. In the first half of 2017 alone, funding approached $2.5 billion. Companies in clinical diagnostics include in vitro diagnostics (IVDs) and laboratory-developed tests. The interest in diagnostics companies is driven, in part, by the potential for these tests to support precision medicine and to detect life-threatening conditions earlier.
At the MedCity INVEST conference in Chicago May 1-2, several diagnostics entrepreneurs will take the stage as part of the Pitch Perfect startup contest. Here’s a preview:
DermaSensor is working on a low-cost, handheld device to help healthcare professionals and patients assess skin cancer using patented spectroscopy and machine learning technology to evaluate skin lesions.
Immortagen is a cancer diagnostics company that combines proprietary tumor processing with artificial intelligence to identify true driver mutations in each patient’s tumor.
Ischemia Care / Ischemic Stroke Lab Ischemia Care commercializes blood tests for the cause of strokes, including atrial fibrillation, across the stroke care continuum, including point of care. This year, Ischemia Care launched its first test, ISCDX, through its business Ischemic Stroke Lab.
Isomark developed a non-invasive and rapid infection detection and monitoring tool using exhaled breath. In clinical studies, Isomark confirmed infections three days before standard methods and tracked a patient’s individualized response to treatment in near-real time.
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.
Mydimed produces algorithms and software tools that help prevent adverse drug reactions among high-risk patients.
Attend MedCity INVEST to hear from healthcare innovators like Isomark, Onculogica, and others. Use promo code MCN50 to save $50. Register now.
NoMo Diagnostics is working on real-time concussion detection for athletes and military personnel. Its technology uses a miniaturized quantitative electroencephalogram with a novel biosensor.
Oculogica, a neurodiagnostic company founded by neurosurgeon Dr. Uzma Samadani, produced a < 4 minute, non-invasive, baseline-free concussion diagnostic with a simultaneous assessment of elevated intracranial pressure.
Prenosis has devised a way to predict the risk of infection-related adverse events for individual patients in real time. The system combines real-time data inputs from electronic medical records with relevant blood biomarker data measured either in a clinical lab or using a handheld point of care device.
UE LifeSciences developed a point-of-care breast health examination device for health workers to use to detect breast lumps early without pain or radiation.
Voyant Diagnostics has an automated point-of-care urine diagnostic platform with the goal of integrating pregnancy screening in emergency departments, impacting care for all women of childbearing age.
Image: AdrianHillman, Getty Images
