Technological devices often become associated with the entertainment, security, and agricultural industries; however, other fields such as healthcare may benefit as well. Bold ideas for tech in the world of medicine and healthcare turned it into one of the biggest and fastest-growing industries, which is why there is involvement with technology has reached prime.
Healthcare needs to be upgraded, especially now that diseases are endangering lives in an unexpected way more than ever. These companies are just some of many that continue to give hope in the field of medicine.
Medical devices today can deliver top-notch treatments to different ailments that were once deemed incurable. These advancements revealed bold solutions to clinicians and patients around the globe.
The following startup companies prove that technological devices are powerful tools in treating different diseases.
Hand-Held Medical Diagnostics
The following companies let their patients diagnose their own health. They developed devices that are easy to use and reliable at the same time.
Basil Leaf Technologies
In 2013, Basil Leaf Technologies was established in order to create collaborative and consumer-level products. The devices that were made got the ability to empower patients to observe and enhance their personal health.
Basil Harris heads the startup company, which has a projected total funding of $2.6M. Basil Leaf Technologies was also the winner of this year’s Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize. They invented a hand-held consumer diagnostic device called DxtER, which can trace the hemoglobin, white blood cell count, and blood glucose.
Two Pore Guys, Inc.
Two Pore Guys (2PG) is a California-based company founded in 2011; they immediately showed great promise when it comes to developing a single-molecule sensing platform. Their yet unnamed handheld nanopore diagnostic device can identify analytes, proteins, and nucleic acids in agricultural samples, animals, and humans.
2PG’s device works just like a glucose monitor, and became the first device to be utilized in a liquid biopsy test for pancreatic and colorectal cancer.
Dan Heller is the CEO of Two Pore Guys, which has an estimated total funding of $29.7M. Its investors include Khosla Ventures.
QuantuMDx
QuantuMDx is a startup medical device company that focuses on creating genome sequencing devices and hand-held diagnostics. Founded in 2008 in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Elaine Warburton single-handedly heads the company as its CEO.
The England-based company made Q-POC, and also serves as their flagship product. It delivers integrated deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequencing for drug susceptibility testing and diagnostics in 10 to 20 minutes at the side of a patient.
The total funding of QuantuMDx is $12.5M with Helsinn Investment Fund as its primary investor.
Exploring to the Nervous System
Studying how the brain functions is not an easy task. Using medical devices to explore the unfamiliar territory of human consciousness and nerves will make any discoveries more concise. The following companies developed devices that solely cater to the nervous system.
Synchron
The startup neural interface company developed the first endovascular electrode array in the world called Stentrode. The minimally invasive device has the ability to let patients get direct brain control, potentially helping people with Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, and even obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), depression.
Synchron, together with its founder and CEO Dr. Tom Oxley, are now getting ready for the pilot clinical trial of the medical device.
The total funding of the company is $10M. Some of its investors include Neurotechnology Investors, U. S. Department of Defense, and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
G-Therapeutics
The spinal cord is also considered to be a part of the nervous system and it is where G-Therapeutics takes place. The Eindhoven-based startup was established in 2014 and since then, it has been creating a robot-assisted training program and an implantable stimulation system. The developments help rehabilitate patients with spinal cord injuries.
Sjaak Deckers is the CEO of G-Therapeutics, which has investors such as Inkef Capital, Wellington Partners, and Gimv. The estimated total funding of the startup company is $40.8M.
Kernel
Bryan Johnson is the CEO of Kernel, a human intelligence (HI) company founded in 2016. The startup manufactures neural interface in order to cure dysfunction and disease. The aim of the California-based company is to enhance human intelligence, helping build advanced neural interfaces that can treat dysfunction and diseases. It was reported that the company has a total funding of $100M.
Companies Using 3D-Printed Prototypes as a Medical Device
When three-dimentional (3D) printing was introduced in the field of medicine, a lot of people saw its promising outcomes. With the help of 3D biological printing, many things are now possible – for example, creating 3D-printed organs in the absence of an organ donor. The following companies made sure that their 3D printing devices are ready for patients who need them.
Aspect Biosystems
Established in 2013, Aspect Biosystems is a British Columbia, Canada-based company that focuses on commercializing tissue engineering solutions and 3D bioprinting. The startup creates the Lab-on-a-Printer technology, where it can assist multiple bioinks in the biofabrication of heterogonous 3D tissues.
Tamer Mohamed is the CEO of Aspect Biosystems, and it has investors like Pallasite Ventures, Endure Capital, and Pangaea Ventures.
BioBots
BioBots produces a 3D bioprinter with a high-resolution desktop. Their bioprinter can create a 3D living tissue that could be used in the future. Their flagship device, called BioBot2, can print at the sub-micron level on 3 planes.
The Pennsylvania-based company was founded in 2014 where Danny Cabrera is the co-founder and CEO. The total funding of BioBots is $2.13M, coming from investors link 500 Startups and Dreamit Ventures.
Prellis Biologics
The California-based company caters to the 3D multiphoton printing of organs and human tissues for transplant applications and drug development. They recently created a printing method based on laser, where they print insulin-secreting cells of the pancreas.
Melanie Matheu, PhD is the CEO of the company which was established in 2016. The projected total funding of Prellis Biologics is $2.05M, and some of its investors include IndieBio and True Ventures.
Just the Beginning for Medical Device Evolution
The evolution of medical devices is just beginning to blossom; despite the early stage, bold impacts have already come to fruition. Healthcare needs to be upgraded, especially now that diseases are endangering lives in an unexpected way more than ever. These companies are just some of many that continue to give hope in the field of medicine.
