Article preview reprinted from Start-Up - July 2009
The field of gastroenterology is tantalizing for device manufacturers because it offers one of the rare screening paradigms in medicine, and therefore, enormous markets. In the US, it's recommended that everyone over the age of 50 be screened for colorectal cancer by a colonoscopy procedure. However, compliance with colorectal screening recommendations is low, less than 50% for colonoscopy, the gold standard for detecting precancerous polyps. GI endoscopy is unusual among screening paradigms in its degree of invasiveness and cost, and that limits access to screening. Medtech start-ups hope to improve upon this state of affairs by offering new technologies to improve the ease, decrease the discomfort, and increase the efficiency of endoscopic procedures. Read more...
Scoping out Gastroenterology Start-Ups
Article preview reprinted from Start-Up - July 2009
Gastroenterology offers several large device markets, particularly in endoscopy, and it's a growth sector for big companies looking to create new franchises.
When it comes to technological innovation, the field of gastroenterology lags other clinical spaces. Gastroenterologists are said to be slow adopters of new technologies, and disruptive innovation seems to come along only every 30 years or so. The last major advance, say some, happened back in 1983 at DDW (Digestive Disease Week), the annual gastroenterology conference, when Olympus Corp. introduced the first CCD sensing camera on the end of an endoscope, enabling the electronic capture of images. Before that, the last major advance was the advent of fiberoptics in 1956. Those technologies advanced image quality, but the basic endoscopy procedure itself--which relies on snaking a semi-rigid hose at the end of which is a visualization tool through five to six feet of twists and turns in a soft organ--has not changed in 50 years. Start-ups are fond of pointing this out, because, with some rare exceptions, it's been difficult for all but the largest companies—Olympus, Pentax Corp., Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd.-- to succeed at capturing any part of the market with new technologies, and indeed, there are many start-up and product failures along the way.
The field is tantalizing because it offers one of the rare screening paradigms in medicine, and therefore, enormous markets. In the US, it's recommended that everyone over the age of 50 be screened for colorectal cancer by a colonoscopy procedure, at various intervals depending upon a person's disease risk. In 2008, almost 150,000 new cases of colorectal cancer were diagnosed in the US, and more than 50,000 people die each year from the disease. Perhaps 75% of these deaths could be prevented if the disease were caught early. It can lurk, symptomless in people with no additional risk factors other than their advancing age. That's a compelling case for screening, and in 2009, some 27 million colonoscopies will be performed.
—Mary Stuart
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Companies mentioned in this article:
Softscope Medical Technologies Inc.
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No publication reviews leading edge companies and technology better than START-UP. Each issue of START-UP profiles the most important new product companies, identifies the hottest technology areas, reviews funds flowing into private companies and investment trends, and reports on university tech transfer licensing. Industries covered: pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical equipment & devices, and in vitro diagnostics.
