How COVID-19 Is Sparking a New Wave of Health Innovation

Meet 20 StartUp Health companies using their tech to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus

During a two-week visit to China in early February, Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr. Bruce Aylward got a front row seat to observe China’s efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus, known as COVID-19. He shared some of his lessons learned in an interview with the New York Times. Aylward observed how in Wuhan, 15 million people ordered their food online, and groceries along with medication were delivered to those in quarantine. The Chinese used Weibo, Tencent and WeChat to disseminate accurate information about the virus, and moved 50 percent of all medical care online so people didn’t have to come in to a clinic.

China’s systematic and urgent response to contain COVID-19 has become a kind of playbook for other countries working to ramp up similar impromptu yet systemized efforts to stay the spread of this novel infectious disease. While Dr. Aylward believes China’s counterattack can be replicated, he said “it will require speed, money, imagination and political courage.”

That’s where the following Health Transformers come in. Long before news of COVID-19 hit the airwaves, these health tech entrepreneurs had committed themselves to achieving health moonshots — audacious goals that when achieved can improve the lives of billions. Their life’s work has led them to develop innovative tools and new processes in the health space, from a tri-corder style mouthpiece to capture a range of patient vitals, to apps that keep doctors’ waiting rooms free of overcrowding, to automated population health trackers. But what makes them uniquely positioned to support solutions for COVID-19 is their willingness to expand the use cases of their technologies. As the threat of the virus escalated, these entrepreneurs dropped what they were doing and courageously committed their “speed, money, and imagination” in order to mount a COVID-19 counterattack.

Read about their work below, and if you’d like more information or to inquire about partnerships, reach out to them at the provided email address.

Facilitating Rapid Drug Discovery

Currently, there is no vaccine or specific antiviral treatment for this novel coronavirus. In 2003, scientists tried to develop a vaccine to prevent SARS but the epidemic ended before the vaccine could enter clinical trials. Meet the Health Transformers who are working around the clock and leveraging AI to facilitate faster drug discovery for COVID-19 treatment.

Naheed Kurji, Cyclica

Kurji and his team at Cyclica are using their computational drug discovery platform to strategize potential repurposing options for the treatment of COVID-19. The company has been in touch with leading Chinese research institutes, and this week finalized an agreement with the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing. They are teaming up with local researchers in a socially responsible way to provide a unique attempt at a solution. Read more about their partnership with a leading Chinese research institute to fight COVID-19.

“Our immediate answer was yes, let’s get something going. Let’s forget all the geopolitics. Let’s forget the differences that exist. Let’s just come together and figure something out.”

Message Kurji via email at [email protected].

Cathy Cather, Parallel Profile

At Parallel Profile, Cather is working with Cloud Pharmaceuticals, Mercury Data Science, Vanderbilt, Nashville BioSciences and others to mine literature, databases and EMRs in order to identify drugs that can be immediately repurposed to make patients stronger, more able to fight off a potential COVID-19 infection. Their curated research aims to uncover drugs that will help boost the immune system, increase ATP in the mitochondria, reduce inflammation in the lower lungs, slow the viral replication pathway, and increase gas exchange in the lungs. With the use of AI, Cather says “answer could come within a month” and be continually updated against infected patient EMR and genomics data.

“Parallel Profile can provide expedited pharmacogenomic analysis to assure each patient will respond to the optimal drug combination for them.”

Message Cather via email at [email protected].

Early Detection + Remote Monitoring

There is a blindspot when it comes to mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in vulnerable populations. We don’t know when, where or how the respiratory virus takes hold in high risk patients, which means high risk patients can continue to decline until there is an acute respiratory attack or death. These Health Transformers have developed tools that can help detect early symptoms of COVID-19 and support remote monitoring.

Nirinjan Yee, BreathResearch

Yee believes BreathResearch can provide important data for early detection and treatment using their dual sensor spirometer to conduct a one-minute pulmonary test. The test combines clinical spirometry, lung sound analysis and artificial intelligence for home monitoring and telehealth. In a hypothetical mass outbreak scenario where BreathResearch was deployed in a quarantine area, those diagnosed with the virus as well as high risk patients could be monitored effectively by employing the one-minute test twice a day to track if and how the disease is moving into the lungs.

“We think we can close some of the current gaps in treatment by enabling early detection before the disease becomes acute. By tracking high risk individuals and patients, we can provide real time data to patients and clinicians, thus minimizing time, travel and contact, and accelerating treatment time and effectiveness. In addition, we use our machine learning engine to provide data pertaining to how and when high risk patients are affected by respiratory flu viruses and infections, such as the Coronavirus. Our data will also be able to help classify the severity of infections, and determine medication, vaccines and other treatment effectiveness.”

Message Yee via email at [email protected].

Sathya Elumalai, Aidar Health

At Aidar Health, Elumali has developed a device that can measure COVID-19 symptoms early and monitor patients at home or in the hospital. The device is called MouthLab. It works like a breathalyzer, but acts like a Star Trek tri-corder. When a patient breathes into the device’s mouthpiece for 30 seconds it captures a range of vitals.

“Today only a thermometer is used to diagnose and detect changes in a person’s health. Some of the parameters relevant to COVID-19 that could be measured using our device are temperature, spirometry (lung function test), respiration rate, heart rate, respiratory flow cycle morphology, among others.”

Message Elumalai via email at [email protected].

Arif Quronfleh, Tahmo

At Tahmo, Quronfleh is developing a wearable, wireless and continuous body thermometer. When monitoring the spread of a virus like COVID-19, the product can benefit nurses and doctors who need to track body temperature remotely in order to reduce the risk of becoming infected. Tahmo’s proprietary sensor design compensates for the body’s suppression of signal transmission (a major issue for existing products) and provides reliable notifications that alert caregivers and healthcare professionals about the current condition of their patients.

“With the latest COVID-19 outbreak, this device will minimize interaction with patients thus reducing the risk associated with coming into contact with infected patients. Our proprietary design gives us an advantage over other devices.”

Message Quronfleh via email at [email protected].

Ensuring the Doctor’s Office Remains A Safe Space

COVID-19 is transmissible if a person comes within six feet of a patient with the virus and it can remain infectious on surfaces at room temperature for up to nine days. That means it’s more important than ever to keep our doctors’ waiting rooms free of overcrowding, and to limit our interactions with surfaces that run the risk of spreading of the respiratory illness. Here’s how the following Health Transformers are helping us do just that.

Jennifer Meller, Navimize

Navimize’s technology predicts delays in the doctor’s schedule and then text messages patients to let them know when their appointment will actually begin, before they head to the doctor’s office. This allows patients to arrive at the doctor’s office, be seen by the doctor, and leave, avoiding unnecessary ‘extra’ time waiting in a crowded waiting room with sick and potentially infectious patients.

“Navimize eliminates the waiting room.”

Message Meller via email at [email protected].

Hari Prasad, Yosi Health

Yosi is a pre-arrival focused patient intake and registration system that eliminates kiosks, clipboard and tablets in medical office waiting rooms. Recently, Prasad has used his platform at Yosi to promote the use of patients’ own smartphone devices for registration.

“We’re reducing the risk of being infected by publicly used tablets and devices in doctor’s offices.”

Message Prasad via email at [email protected].

FORCE delivers video-based care plans prescribed by the patient’s own care team in order to help patients recover from injury or surgery in the comfort of their own homes. This reduces the amount of time they need to spend in hospitals, thereby reducing the risk of interacting with potentially COVID-19-infected patients.

“We capture multiple granular data points and deliver them to providers to drive real time interventions thereby avoiding complications and readmissions.”

Message Spira via email at [email protected].

Susannah Bailin, AC Health

AC Health is a mobile app that lets physical therapists upload uniquely personalized videos for each patient. It can be used in-session or remotely. Patients can add feedback for the physical therapy in the app. It is HIPAA compliant and all content is stored in AC Health’s server for privacy.

“AC Health is asynchronous telehealth and can support patients who choose not to come in for an appointment due to COVID-19.”

Message Bailin via email at [email protected].

Luca Emili, InSilicoTrials

Emili and his team at InSilicoTirals has developed a technology that promotes effective disinfection planning of a room or building by running simulations that predict where the disinfectant should go. This provides insight on the right positioning of disinfectant devices,along with medical devices.

“Disinfection is extremely important as COVID-19 remains alive up to nine days on surfaces generating a significant issue of extending the contagion.”

Message Emili via email at [email protected].

Brand Newland, Goldfinch

At Goldfinch, Newland and COO John Greenwood are working on better surgical care pathways. This means shorter hospital stays and reduced infection rates. With the company’s nurse concierge, Goldfinch’s platform facilitates better post-surgery care and better triaged questions, thereby limiting a patient’s need to show up in the emergency room or at urgent care center.

“During an outbreak, the less time you need to spend in a formal health care setting — be that a hospital, clinic, ER, etc. — the better.”

Message Newland via email at [email protected].

Tracking Population Health

While governments across the globe are working in collaboration with local authorities and health-care providers to track, respond to and prevent the spread of COVID-19, health experts are turning startups like ones below to advanced analytics and AI, and to customize mass communication in order to augment current efforts to prevent further infection.

Howard Rosen, LifeWIRE

At LifeWIRE, Rosen and his team are working on a number of solutions regarding COVID 19. The most immediate is a solution that will allow organizations to create a dynamic keyword, such as “covid19,” that when texted to a particular number can lead anyone to information about COVID, or be used as a symptom checker against the CDC guidelines, or for use in reporting.

“For healthcare teams managing complex populations or health crises like COVID-19, LifeWIRE products deliver two-way, automated dialogue between any patient device and any clinician software with no app.”

Message Rosen via email at [email protected].

Andrew Wallner, Conversa

This week, the Conversa team launched a large-scale campaign to drive awareness of their new service, Coronavirus Health Chats. It is a public service that is free to use by the general public in order to get information on coronavirus and COVID-19, check symptoms, find additional resources, and enroll in real-time alerts. You can try it yourself by texting “virus” to 83973.

“With the cancellation of HIMSS20, and the acceleration of cases in the US and globally, the timing presents an incredible opportunity to underscore the significant importance of virtual health to drive communication, education, and wellbeing.”

Message Wallner via email at [email protected].

At HealthTalk A.I., Ullah is assisting public health organizations assess populations at scale using conversational AI.

“We can direct patients to the right level of care.”

Message Ullah via email at [email protected].

Cristian Pascual, Mediktor

The Mediktor team has created a COVID-19 test that not only checks a person’s symptoms against symptoms of the disease, but also provides differential diagnosis and practical recommendations to the users. Give it a try www.mediktor.com.

“We can help to manage the growing demand of care related to the pandemia by filtering the patients with the required symptoms to be considered a potential COVID-19 case, and then activating the proper treatment protocol in a timely manner.”

Message Pascual via email at [email protected].

Telemedicine-Ready

The idea of telemedicine has existed for decades, yet it has been slow to reach mass adoption. But telemedicine companies like SimpleVisit, Babyscripts and Beam Health are critical during an outbreak like COVID-19 as more and more people seek to receive care from the safety and comfort of their homes. The companies below are just a small sampling of the many StartUp Health companies that are moving telemedicine from an add-on feature to an absolute necessity, flipping our entire model of primary care.

Judith Nowlin, Babyscripts

Fears surrounding the spread of COVID-19 have sparked increased engagement with digital health in pregnant women looking for the latest updates on the virus. Babyscripts, the leading virtual care company for managing obstetrics, teamed up with clinical partner George Washington Medical Faculty Associates (GW-MFA) to disseminate relevant information about COVID-19 to new and expecting mothers. Read more about Babyscripts work with GW-MFA and other organizations here.

“There’s a lot of conflicting information floating around on the internet, and pregnant women are especially vulnerable because they’re in a unique situation that complicates their normal responses to things like virus-protection. Mobile health gives us the critical ability to communicate to these patients in real-time and answer their questions.”

Message Nowlin via email at [email protected].

Rob Warlick, SimpleVisit

SimpleVisit’s ability to bridge any-to-any video platform is helping medical groups use their existing video conferencing investment (Microsoft Teams, Cisco, Polycom, Zoom, Skype for Business, etc.) to seamlessly launch an in-home telemedicine program. SimpleVisit can bridge in patients with a direct call to common video platforms like Facetime, Skype, and Google Hangouts.

“Many new clients from this past week have reached out to SimpleVisit, motivated by the COVID-19 response, either for testing directly but mainly as a contingency plan in case of quarantine scenarios.”

Message Warlick via email at [email protected].

Coronavirus Symptoms Relief

Since there is no specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19, treatment is supportive, which means giving fluids, following diets that can support the immune system, taking medicine to reduce fever, and, in severe cases, supplemental oxygen. Meet three Health Transformers who are working to bring to market both dietary knowledge and resources, along with novel products that have the potential to provide COVID-19-infected patients relief.

Jim & Jacqueline Iversen, Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical

Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical has a product under development to reduce the symptoms associated with Upper Respiratory Infection (URI). Jim and Jacqueline Iversen say they believe it could provide relief to a large number of people during the COVID-19 pandemic. The product, SJP-002, is a combination of an NSAID and a non-sedating antihistamine and does not include a decongestant. Removing the decongestant makes their product ideal for treating the symptoms associated with COVID-19 in patients with cardiac conditions who cannot tolerate taking a decongestant.

“What makes our product novel is that it can be administered early in the treatment phase, thereby reducing the excessive accumulation of inflammation, which typically results in head congestion, pulmonary congestion, coughing, and sneezing. By reducing inflammation, our product has the potential to reduce the spreading of the virus by means of cough, sneezing, and spreading of germs through contact.”

Message Iversen via email at [email protected].

Mory Bahar, Personal Remedies

For telehealth, integrative medicine, and health IT providers who need to improve how they continue care for chronic disease patients, Personal Remedies’ cognitive AI platform provides fully automated, individualized, professional-level dietary guidance to their patients. Bahar has been updating Personal Remedies’ research on viral infections to capture the latest on dietary considerations related to viral infections and in particular COVID-19.

“The next step is to regenerate our knowledge base and provide actionable guidance via our API to our licensees. We support a collection of over 40 apps and are considering producing a new mobile app focused on COVID-19.”

Message Bahar via email at [email protected].

Susan Bratton, Savor Health

Savor Health has experienced a dramatic increase in questions regarding COVID-19, with many of the company’s cancer patients noting that they are staying home to avoid contact with the virus. In response to these concerns, Bratton is offering free unlimited access to Ina®, Savor Health’s “Intelligent Nutrition Assistant,” throughout the entire COVID-19 crisis so that homebound cancer patients and caregivers have access to personalized evidence-based nutrition and symptom management support 24/7 “on demand” via text on their smartphone. Share this link with anyone that could benefit from the advice of oncology-credentialed medical experts, as delivered by Ina®.

“With the rapid increase in U.S. citizens infected with COVID-19, and the resulting increase in home bound or otherwise quarantined Americans, Savor Health continues to pursue our original mission of supporting cancer patients and their families with safe, personalized, evidence-based nutrition support.”

Message Bratton via email at [email protected].