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Medical industry tech firms take top prizes at SMG business plan competition
By Brian Fitzgerald
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TeleEMG founder Joe Jabre (GSM’06) (second from right), a MED professor of neurology, is pictured with (left to right) Paul Horn, a sponsor of the SMG Entrepreneurial Management Institute’s $30K Business Plan Competition, Laura Marx (GSM’06), who took part in TeleEMG’s presentation, and competition director Beth Goldstein. |
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Joe Jabre is earning his MBA. “Better late than never,” laughs the 58-year-old MED associate professor of neurology. Indeed, what he’s recently learned in the classroom — combined with his medical training and experience — helped his team win the SMG Entrepreneurial Management Institute’s $30K Business Plan Competition on April 20.
TeleEMG, a company that Jabre (GSM’06) founded in 1997, will receive a $7,500 cash prize and about $6,000 in in-kind services relating to legal and business expenses in developing and marketing the Expert Neurographer, a proprietary medical software that allows physicians to better diagnose diseases such as carpal tunnel syndrome, low back pain, and neuropathy complications of diabetes.
Jabre’s team included MED neurology instructor Byron Salzsieder and Petra Botha (GSM’04). At least one member of every team must be a BU student or alum.
TeleEMG focuses on improving the understanding of medical tests used in the evaluation of nerve and muscle diseases. Many of these tests involve nerve conduction studies (NCS) that record the speed and shape of electrical activity as it travels along the peripheral nerves. But, Jabre points out, NCS are vulnerable to misinterpretation by partially trained medical professionals.
“Lower back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, neck pain, and diabetic neuropathy complications cost the U.S. economy about $42 billion a year,” he says. “We have developed diagnostic algorithms based on the results of comprehensive data-mining of studies of thousands of patients with these conditions. We present information on how experts in this field diagnose these conditions. We essentially try to replicate by mathematical formulas the way experts make their diagnoses. This allows a partially trained medical professional to enjoy the benefit of this comprehensive analysis — and offers them insight on how the diagnoses are made.”
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A nerve conduction study uses stimulating electrodes to test how well nerves conduct signals that control muscles. Photo courtesy of TeleEMG.com |
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He says that by offering partially trained medical professionals the ability to arrive at a more accurate diagnosis, the Expert Neurographer will help minimize complications that arise from misdiagnoses. This will save the patient unneeded surgery and medication, and insurance companies will be spared unnecessary costs. “An accurately interpreted NCS costs a private insurance company about $1,000,” he says, “but the cost of an inaccurately interpreted study might cost up to $25,000 because of unnecessary treatments.”
TeleEMG’s business plan has also won first prize in the Rice University Business Plan challenger round competition in Houston, Tex., and the second prize in TechKnowledge Point Corporation’s 2005 SEED Competition in Santa Barbara, Calif. “If there is one thing I wish I had known going into this process, it would be the importance of getting my MBA in health-care management,” says Jabre. “I would have done it long ago.”
But Beth Goldstein, director of the SMG competition, points out that it’s never too late to learn the fine points of bringing novel technology to the marketplace. “I’m sure he’s getting a much better understanding of the bigger business picture,” says Goldstein, a research associate in SMG’s strategy and policy department.
“Unfortunately, doctors are usually insulated from the business end of medicine,” says Jabre, “but we can benefit tremendously by learning about it.”
Innovative technologies for the medical industry dominated the winners’ bracket at the competition, which was sponsored by the law firm Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels LLP. Receiving second-place honors was Natalus, Inc., a medical device company focused on innovations in the obstetrics and gynecology field. Jordan MacAvoy (COM’04), Claude Drugan, and Daniel Burnett will receive $4,000 cash and $6,000 in services. Natalus designed, developed, and filed patents on a novel system for the prevention of perineal tearing during vaginal deliveries and has negotiated an exclusive licensing agreement with TheraNova, a California biomedical device holding company, for the use of the system. Once a working prototype is developed, the company hopes to begin clinical trials.
MacAvoy, who first connected with Burnett in California when they realized they each had a desire to launch a biotech startup, says the three Natalus’ founders “bring specific strengths to the table, but we also understand the importance of being able to wear many hats. The team spirit is alive and kicking in this group of dedicated individuals, and we believe it will help us continue our success.”
Taking third place was the Boston Microfluidics team of Brandon Johnson (ENG’04), Timothy Coleman (GSM’04), and Peter Their. The company employs advanced microfluidic technology and microfabrication techniques, combined with diagnostic chemistries, to develop an easy-to-use rapid diagnostic device capable of testing for a multitude of pathogens.
Johnson got the idea for such a device while taking a microfluidics course taught by Tejal Desai, an ENG associate professor of biomedical engineering. He then worked on the project with Catherine Klapperich, an ENG assistant professor of manufacturing engineering, and the device won a 2003 Provost’s Innovation Fund award for Klapperich’s lab.
“These three business teams feature an impressive group of entrepreneurs who bring to the competition a combination of medical and technology acumen and entrepreneurial zeal,” says Peter Russo, director of the Entrepreneurial Management Institute. “This year’s finalists illustrate the integration of creative and innovative technology and business ideas that has become an integral part of the culture and community at Boston University.”
29
April 2005
Boston University
Office of University Relations