ApniCure: Unmasking Sleep Therapy With An Alternative To CPAP

Article preview from IN VIVO - July, 2012

Sleep apnea is now widely recognized as an underlying factor for major CV diseases and metabolic disorders, making it a huge market opportunity. ApniCure hopes that by avoiding the CPAP masks that patients hate while using the differential pressure therapy that doctors and payors like, it can unlock this potential blockbuster market.

ApniCure: Unmasking Sleep Therapy With An Alternative To CPAP

Article preview from IN VIVO - July, 2012

Sleep medicine is a relatively recent clinical specialty, yet obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) – the most prevalent sleep disorder – has long been one of the most vexing clinical challenges facing the medical device industry. The science of sleep medicine has grown exponentially over the last 30 years, producing groundbreaking research revealing the extent to which sleep disorders have a significant impact on a multitude of serious cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders. The state of sleep therapy, however, has remained largely stagnant. The most effective therapy continues to be what it was in 1981 when CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) was invented. Unfortunately, CPAP remains almost as unpopular with patients today as it was then, mainly because it requires patients to wear cumbersome, uncomfortable facial masks while sleeping.

As a result, while the OSA population continues to increase as a result of both improvements in diagnosis and the growth of contributing risk factors like obesity, the percentage of patients being treated remains low, with large numbers of unmanaged patients not even bothering to get diagnosed because they know that CPAP is their likely treatment. Nevertheless, the market opportunity remains compelling and as a result, this has been a space that has been attracting increased interest from device investors and entrepreneurs.

Redwood City, CA-based ApniCure Inc. is one of a number of recent sleep start-ups looking to come up with a better alternative to CPAP. The company’s new therapy relies on differential pressure to keep the airway open, but with negative, rather than positive pressure. ApniCure’s use of air pressure is similar to CPAP with one big difference: its device uses a mouthpiece, not a mask, which the company believes will enhance patient comfort and compliance.

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