Vigilant Biosciences Inc.

Article preview from Start-Up - July, 2013

Vigilant Biosciences Inc.’s screening kit for diagnosing early-stage oral cancer comprises a test strip to detect oral cancer biomarkers, and an oral gargle-and-spit rinse. The screening is designed to occur annually at dental check-ups and it can be administered by a hygienist.

Vigilant Biosciences Inc.

Article preview from Start-Up - July, 2013

Both of Matthew Kim’s parents have struggled with oral cancer, especially his mother, with advanced-stage disease. “Watching my mother battle oral cancer inspired me to learn as much as I could about the disease,” recalls Kim, a patent attorney and serial entrepreneur with a background in health care and technology. “Her disease was initially misdiagnosed as leukoplakia [patches in the mouth]. Once properly diagnosed, she endured painful and disfiguring surgeries.”

While Kim was doing research about oral cancer, he came across some startling statistics about the outcomes in late-stage intervention. Being a patent lawyer also motivated Kim to investigate oral-cancer technologies, both on the market and in the pipeline. “After my review, I really thought there was still an unmet need, even with the available technologies on the market and those in development,” he says.

Kim first entertained the idea of starting a company to screen for oral cancer in the summer of 2010. That fall, his research led him to the University of Miami in Florida, where a test strip screening kit had been developed by Elizabeth Franzmann, MD, an associate professor of otolaryngology. That kit is now the lead product of Kim’s start-up venture, Vigilant Biosciences Inc.

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