User login
SAN FRANCISCO – All five innovative startups pitched at the Shark Tank at the 2019 AGA Tech Summit, sponsored by the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology, are in advanced stages of development, but only one is given the opportunity to be declared the winner of the competition. The ideas ranged from a smart toilet for early disease detection to a unique strategy for obesity phenotyping, but the winner by both official decision and popular vote was a smartphone app to help patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) manage the condition.
“As always, this year’s Shark Tank was a highlight of the AGA Tech Summit and represents the progress our field is making when it comes to innovation. Our panel of sharks was focused on understanding the problem each innovation solved – that’s the key when determining if an idea is novel or innovation for innovation’s sake. We were impressed with all of the technologies presented, but ultimately chose the Oshi Health IBD app as our winner because of the impact it is already having on improving the health and care of IBD patients,” said V. Raman Muthusamy, MD, AGAF, chair of the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology.
The winner: Oshi pitches “all-in-one” IBD app
By both popular vote from those attending the AGA Tech Summit as well as the six-member Shark Tank panel, Oshi Health was selected as the 2019 Shark Tank winner for its IBD app. The app was designed to help patients track symptoms, a first step in understanding flare patterns, which differ substantially between patients and emphasize the need for a personalized plan for controlling disease.
“Since we launched last June at DDW® we have had 40,000 downloads. We are the number one IBD management app,” reported Dan Weinstein, MBA, CEO of Oshi Health.
The available app represents the first of three phases as the functionality is expanded. Currently, in addition to using the app as a tracking tool, patients can find resources to learn about their disease and to communicate with other patients about their experiences. In a second phase, information gathered by the app will be made available to physicians to provide accurate current information about disease status to better individualize therapy.
Ultimately, the app is expected to guide treatment based on information it has collected on symptom patterns and other data collected over time, although this application is further down the road and will require regulatory approval if it is designed to provide clinical advice as expected, according to Mr. Weinstein.
However, benefits have already been seen. Mr. Weinstein cited data that associated the app with a 40% improvement in medication adherence and a nearly 60-day reduction in flare duration. Calling the app “the next chapter in treat-to-target” IBD management, he believes that this is an important step forward in digital health that will improve IBD outcomes. The Shark Tank panel agreed.
Runners-up: Other potential innovations to improve GI health
With or without Shark Tank endorsement, the other four startups described in the competition are moving forward. Each is designed to address an important unmet need with the potential to improve patient outcomes, which is a criterion for their inclusion in the competition.
The smart toilet seat
One involves a technologically advanced toilet seat. The new seat is based on the fact that fecal matter provides insight into a broad array of disease states, but specimen collection is a hurdle for a variety of reasons, including patient resistance. A toilet seat developed by Toi Labs, called TrueLoo, is equipped with lighting and cameras that captures images of bowel movements and urination for subsequent analysis.
“The toilet seat sees what the eye cannot,” according to Vikram Kashyap, CEO of Toi Labs. He believes it has major potential for early detection of conditions ranging from dehydration to gastrointestinal cancer.
Others agree. According to Mr. Kashyap, executives of a chain of senior living facilities have already expressed interest in installing this seat to better monitor health among residents. The seat is bolted into position in place of any standard toilet seat. It collects images and data that are transmitted directly to a cellular network.
“Using our technology, the goal is to catch disease states early before they progress,” said Mr. Kashyap, who called the surveillance system a low-cost disease-screening tool. He believes the smart toilet seat could be of the most important disease detection devices developed in recent years.
AI to aid screening endoscopy
A third entrant in this year’s Shark Tank described a strategy to employ artificial intelligence (AI) to aid endoscopists in screening for dysplasia. The tool is called Ultivision and is being developed by a startup called Docbot. The CEO, Andrew Ninh, and a senior executive, Jason B. Samarasena, MD, outlined an idea that could be used in either screening colonoscopy or in surveillance of Barrett’s esophagus).
“Dysplasia is difficult to find. It is subtle and it is often missed. With better detection of dysplasia, artificial intelligence offers an opportunity to reduce risk of cancer,” Dr. Samarasena said.
The tool integrates seamlessly with existing endoscopic tools, according to Mr. Ninh. As tissue is visualized, the AI is programmed to highlight suspected dysplasia with a colored box to alert the endoscopist. The colonoscopy application is a more advanced stage of development and might be submitted for regulatory approval this year, he said. The same technology will be adapted for Barrett’s esophagus.
“It is like facial recognition for dysplasia,” said Dr. Samarasena.
Obesity phenotyping tool
A fourth Shark Tank entrant employs technology to phenotype obese patients to better tailor therapy. The Pheno Test, developed by Phenomix Sciences, applies “multi-omics” to a blood-based test to separate patients with obesity into four phenotypes. When therapy is tailored to the phenotype, weight loss is greater, according to Andres J. Acosta, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and consultant in gastroenterology and hepatology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
In an initial study that compared weight loss in 55 patients treated based on phenotype with 175 patients managed with standard of care, the total body weight loss “more than doubled,” Dr. Acosta reported.
According to Dr. Acosta, obesity is driven by very different mechanisms. He described the four major phenotypes identified with his test as hungry brain (satiation signal is impaired), hungry gut (signals to eat are upregulated), emotional hunger (psychological reasons drive eating behavior), and slow metabolism (failure to burn fat at normal rates).
With the blood test, which utilizes hormones, metabolites, DNA, and other biomarkers to separate these phenotypes, treatment can be tailored appropriately, according to Dr. Acosta. His company is now seeking Food and Drug Administration clearance of the test, which he believes will have a major impact on obesity control.
Capsule diagnostic tool
The final entrant selected to participate in this year’s Shark Tank described an ingestible capsule that diagnoses diseases by detecting gases as it descends the gastrointestinal tract. The Atmo Gas Capsule from Atmo Biosciences measures gases at the source, accelerating the diagnosis of such diseases as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and IBD.
“By measuring gases at their source, the accuracy is far better than a breath test,” said Malcolm Hebblewhite, MBA, CEO of Atmo Biosciences. The capsule is an alternative to more invasive and expensive diagnostic tools and it is highly accurate.
Providing examples, Mr. Hebblewhite said that elevated levels of oxygen suggest a disorder of motility while an elevated level of carbon dioxide and hydrogen suggest IBS. The capsule transmits data to a small receiver and then on to a smartphone.
“The real-time data is displayed for the user with more complex information accessible by the practitioner remotely via the cloud,” Mr. Hebblewhite said. He cited several papers that have already been published documenting the potential of this technology.
“The capsule is a single-use disposable device that is not retrieved,” according to Mr. Hebblewhite. He reported that his company plans to pursue the diagnosis of motility as an initial clinical application. The diagnosis of IBS and other GI conditions will follow. Clinical studies are already planned.
SAN FRANCISCO – All five innovative startups pitched at the Shark Tank at the 2019 AGA Tech Summit, sponsored by the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology, are in advanced stages of development, but only one is given the opportunity to be declared the winner of the competition. The ideas ranged from a smart toilet for early disease detection to a unique strategy for obesity phenotyping, but the winner by both official decision and popular vote was a smartphone app to help patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) manage the condition.
“As always, this year’s Shark Tank was a highlight of the AGA Tech Summit and represents the progress our field is making when it comes to innovation. Our panel of sharks was focused on understanding the problem each innovation solved – that’s the key when determining if an idea is novel or innovation for innovation’s sake. We were impressed with all of the technologies presented, but ultimately chose the Oshi Health IBD app as our winner because of the impact it is already having on improving the health and care of IBD patients,” said V. Raman Muthusamy, MD, AGAF, chair of the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology.
The winner: Oshi pitches “all-in-one” IBD app
By both popular vote from those attending the AGA Tech Summit as well as the six-member Shark Tank panel, Oshi Health was selected as the 2019 Shark Tank winner for its IBD app. The app was designed to help patients track symptoms, a first step in understanding flare patterns, which differ substantially between patients and emphasize the need for a personalized plan for controlling disease.
“Since we launched last June at DDW® we have had 40,000 downloads. We are the number one IBD management app,” reported Dan Weinstein, MBA, CEO of Oshi Health.
The available app represents the first of three phases as the functionality is expanded. Currently, in addition to using the app as a tracking tool, patients can find resources to learn about their disease and to communicate with other patients about their experiences. In a second phase, information gathered by the app will be made available to physicians to provide accurate current information about disease status to better individualize therapy.
Ultimately, the app is expected to guide treatment based on information it has collected on symptom patterns and other data collected over time, although this application is further down the road and will require regulatory approval if it is designed to provide clinical advice as expected, according to Mr. Weinstein.
However, benefits have already been seen. Mr. Weinstein cited data that associated the app with a 40% improvement in medication adherence and a nearly 60-day reduction in flare duration. Calling the app “the next chapter in treat-to-target” IBD management, he believes that this is an important step forward in digital health that will improve IBD outcomes. The Shark Tank panel agreed.
Runners-up: Other potential innovations to improve GI health
With or without Shark Tank endorsement, the other four startups described in the competition are moving forward. Each is designed to address an important unmet need with the potential to improve patient outcomes, which is a criterion for their inclusion in the competition.
The smart toilet seat
One involves a technologically advanced toilet seat. The new seat is based on the fact that fecal matter provides insight into a broad array of disease states, but specimen collection is a hurdle for a variety of reasons, including patient resistance. A toilet seat developed by Toi Labs, called TrueLoo, is equipped with lighting and cameras that captures images of bowel movements and urination for subsequent analysis.
“The toilet seat sees what the eye cannot,” according to Vikram Kashyap, CEO of Toi Labs. He believes it has major potential for early detection of conditions ranging from dehydration to gastrointestinal cancer.
Others agree. According to Mr. Kashyap, executives of a chain of senior living facilities have already expressed interest in installing this seat to better monitor health among residents. The seat is bolted into position in place of any standard toilet seat. It collects images and data that are transmitted directly to a cellular network.
“Using our technology, the goal is to catch disease states early before they progress,” said Mr. Kashyap, who called the surveillance system a low-cost disease-screening tool. He believes the smart toilet seat could be of the most important disease detection devices developed in recent years.
AI to aid screening endoscopy
A third entrant in this year’s Shark Tank described a strategy to employ artificial intelligence (AI) to aid endoscopists in screening for dysplasia. The tool is called Ultivision and is being developed by a startup called Docbot. The CEO, Andrew Ninh, and a senior executive, Jason B. Samarasena, MD, outlined an idea that could be used in either screening colonoscopy or in surveillance of Barrett’s esophagus).
“Dysplasia is difficult to find. It is subtle and it is often missed. With better detection of dysplasia, artificial intelligence offers an opportunity to reduce risk of cancer,” Dr. Samarasena said.
The tool integrates seamlessly with existing endoscopic tools, according to Mr. Ninh. As tissue is visualized, the AI is programmed to highlight suspected dysplasia with a colored box to alert the endoscopist. The colonoscopy application is a more advanced stage of development and might be submitted for regulatory approval this year, he said. The same technology will be adapted for Barrett’s esophagus.
“It is like facial recognition for dysplasia,” said Dr. Samarasena.
Obesity phenotyping tool
A fourth Shark Tank entrant employs technology to phenotype obese patients to better tailor therapy. The Pheno Test, developed by Phenomix Sciences, applies “multi-omics” to a blood-based test to separate patients with obesity into four phenotypes. When therapy is tailored to the phenotype, weight loss is greater, according to Andres J. Acosta, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and consultant in gastroenterology and hepatology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
In an initial study that compared weight loss in 55 patients treated based on phenotype with 175 patients managed with standard of care, the total body weight loss “more than doubled,” Dr. Acosta reported.
According to Dr. Acosta, obesity is driven by very different mechanisms. He described the four major phenotypes identified with his test as hungry brain (satiation signal is impaired), hungry gut (signals to eat are upregulated), emotional hunger (psychological reasons drive eating behavior), and slow metabolism (failure to burn fat at normal rates).
With the blood test, which utilizes hormones, metabolites, DNA, and other biomarkers to separate these phenotypes, treatment can be tailored appropriately, according to Dr. Acosta. His company is now seeking Food and Drug Administration clearance of the test, which he believes will have a major impact on obesity control.
Capsule diagnostic tool
The final entrant selected to participate in this year’s Shark Tank described an ingestible capsule that diagnoses diseases by detecting gases as it descends the gastrointestinal tract. The Atmo Gas Capsule from Atmo Biosciences measures gases at the source, accelerating the diagnosis of such diseases as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and IBD.
“By measuring gases at their source, the accuracy is far better than a breath test,” said Malcolm Hebblewhite, MBA, CEO of Atmo Biosciences. The capsule is an alternative to more invasive and expensive diagnostic tools and it is highly accurate.
Providing examples, Mr. Hebblewhite said that elevated levels of oxygen suggest a disorder of motility while an elevated level of carbon dioxide and hydrogen suggest IBS. The capsule transmits data to a small receiver and then on to a smartphone.
“The real-time data is displayed for the user with more complex information accessible by the practitioner remotely via the cloud,” Mr. Hebblewhite said. He cited several papers that have already been published documenting the potential of this technology.
“The capsule is a single-use disposable device that is not retrieved,” according to Mr. Hebblewhite. He reported that his company plans to pursue the diagnosis of motility as an initial clinical application. The diagnosis of IBS and other GI conditions will follow. Clinical studies are already planned.
SAN FRANCISCO – All five innovative startups pitched at the Shark Tank at the 2019 AGA Tech Summit, sponsored by the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology, are in advanced stages of development, but only one is given the opportunity to be declared the winner of the competition. The ideas ranged from a smart toilet for early disease detection to a unique strategy for obesity phenotyping, but the winner by both official decision and popular vote was a smartphone app to help patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) manage the condition.
“As always, this year’s Shark Tank was a highlight of the AGA Tech Summit and represents the progress our field is making when it comes to innovation. Our panel of sharks was focused on understanding the problem each innovation solved – that’s the key when determining if an idea is novel or innovation for innovation’s sake. We were impressed with all of the technologies presented, but ultimately chose the Oshi Health IBD app as our winner because of the impact it is already having on improving the health and care of IBD patients,” said V. Raman Muthusamy, MD, AGAF, chair of the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology.
The winner: Oshi pitches “all-in-one” IBD app
By both popular vote from those attending the AGA Tech Summit as well as the six-member Shark Tank panel, Oshi Health was selected as the 2019 Shark Tank winner for its IBD app. The app was designed to help patients track symptoms, a first step in understanding flare patterns, which differ substantially between patients and emphasize the need for a personalized plan for controlling disease.
“Since we launched last June at DDW® we have had 40,000 downloads. We are the number one IBD management app,” reported Dan Weinstein, MBA, CEO of Oshi Health.
The available app represents the first of three phases as the functionality is expanded. Currently, in addition to using the app as a tracking tool, patients can find resources to learn about their disease and to communicate with other patients about their experiences. In a second phase, information gathered by the app will be made available to physicians to provide accurate current information about disease status to better individualize therapy.
Ultimately, the app is expected to guide treatment based on information it has collected on symptom patterns and other data collected over time, although this application is further down the road and will require regulatory approval if it is designed to provide clinical advice as expected, according to Mr. Weinstein.
However, benefits have already been seen. Mr. Weinstein cited data that associated the app with a 40% improvement in medication adherence and a nearly 60-day reduction in flare duration. Calling the app “the next chapter in treat-to-target” IBD management, he believes that this is an important step forward in digital health that will improve IBD outcomes. The Shark Tank panel agreed.
Runners-up: Other potential innovations to improve GI health
With or without Shark Tank endorsement, the other four startups described in the competition are moving forward. Each is designed to address an important unmet need with the potential to improve patient outcomes, which is a criterion for their inclusion in the competition.
The smart toilet seat
One involves a technologically advanced toilet seat. The new seat is based on the fact that fecal matter provides insight into a broad array of disease states, but specimen collection is a hurdle for a variety of reasons, including patient resistance. A toilet seat developed by Toi Labs, called TrueLoo, is equipped with lighting and cameras that captures images of bowel movements and urination for subsequent analysis.
“The toilet seat sees what the eye cannot,” according to Vikram Kashyap, CEO of Toi Labs. He believes it has major potential for early detection of conditions ranging from dehydration to gastrointestinal cancer.
Others agree. According to Mr. Kashyap, executives of a chain of senior living facilities have already expressed interest in installing this seat to better monitor health among residents. The seat is bolted into position in place of any standard toilet seat. It collects images and data that are transmitted directly to a cellular network.
“Using our technology, the goal is to catch disease states early before they progress,” said Mr. Kashyap, who called the surveillance system a low-cost disease-screening tool. He believes the smart toilet seat could be of the most important disease detection devices developed in recent years.
AI to aid screening endoscopy
A third entrant in this year’s Shark Tank described a strategy to employ artificial intelligence (AI) to aid endoscopists in screening for dysplasia. The tool is called Ultivision and is being developed by a startup called Docbot. The CEO, Andrew Ninh, and a senior executive, Jason B. Samarasena, MD, outlined an idea that could be used in either screening colonoscopy or in surveillance of Barrett’s esophagus).
“Dysplasia is difficult to find. It is subtle and it is often missed. With better detection of dysplasia, artificial intelligence offers an opportunity to reduce risk of cancer,” Dr. Samarasena said.
The tool integrates seamlessly with existing endoscopic tools, according to Mr. Ninh. As tissue is visualized, the AI is programmed to highlight suspected dysplasia with a colored box to alert the endoscopist. The colonoscopy application is a more advanced stage of development and might be submitted for regulatory approval this year, he said. The same technology will be adapted for Barrett’s esophagus.
“It is like facial recognition for dysplasia,” said Dr. Samarasena.
Obesity phenotyping tool
A fourth Shark Tank entrant employs technology to phenotype obese patients to better tailor therapy. The Pheno Test, developed by Phenomix Sciences, applies “multi-omics” to a blood-based test to separate patients with obesity into four phenotypes. When therapy is tailored to the phenotype, weight loss is greater, according to Andres J. Acosta, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and consultant in gastroenterology and hepatology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
In an initial study that compared weight loss in 55 patients treated based on phenotype with 175 patients managed with standard of care, the total body weight loss “more than doubled,” Dr. Acosta reported.
According to Dr. Acosta, obesity is driven by very different mechanisms. He described the four major phenotypes identified with his test as hungry brain (satiation signal is impaired), hungry gut (signals to eat are upregulated), emotional hunger (psychological reasons drive eating behavior), and slow metabolism (failure to burn fat at normal rates).
With the blood test, which utilizes hormones, metabolites, DNA, and other biomarkers to separate these phenotypes, treatment can be tailored appropriately, according to Dr. Acosta. His company is now seeking Food and Drug Administration clearance of the test, which he believes will have a major impact on obesity control.
Capsule diagnostic tool
The final entrant selected to participate in this year’s Shark Tank described an ingestible capsule that diagnoses diseases by detecting gases as it descends the gastrointestinal tract. The Atmo Gas Capsule from Atmo Biosciences measures gases at the source, accelerating the diagnosis of such diseases as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and IBD.
“By measuring gases at their source, the accuracy is far better than a breath test,” said Malcolm Hebblewhite, MBA, CEO of Atmo Biosciences. The capsule is an alternative to more invasive and expensive diagnostic tools and it is highly accurate.
Providing examples, Mr. Hebblewhite said that elevated levels of oxygen suggest a disorder of motility while an elevated level of carbon dioxide and hydrogen suggest IBS. The capsule transmits data to a small receiver and then on to a smartphone.
“The real-time data is displayed for the user with more complex information accessible by the practitioner remotely via the cloud,” Mr. Hebblewhite said. He cited several papers that have already been published documenting the potential of this technology.
“The capsule is a single-use disposable device that is not retrieved,” according to Mr. Hebblewhite. He reported that his company plans to pursue the diagnosis of motility as an initial clinical application. The diagnosis of IBS and other GI conditions will follow. Clinical studies are already planned.
REPORTING FROM 2019 AGA TECH SUMMIT
