Date: Oct 11, 2016 Source: Company Data (
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Case Western Reserve University: Developed Technologies Diagnose Malaria and Sickle Cell Disease Faster, Easier, More Affordably Than Ever Before
PORTLAND, OREGON Oct. 11, 2016 - Hemex Health, an Oregon startup focused on creating life-changing global health products announced it has executed an exclusive license to develop and commercialize a pair of breakthrough technologies which promise to revolutionize the diagnosis of two of the world's most deadly diseases: malaria and sickle cell disease.
Bothtechnologies are simpler, faster, and more affordable than conventional diagnostic methods currently in worldwide use for the two targeted diseases," said Patti White, CEO of Hemex Health.
"We started Hemex last year with the intent of finding and bringing to market health innovations that would change people's lives, particularly in underserved parts of the world," said White. "We looked at more than 20 universities' projects, over a hundred solutions, and chose these two powerful technologies from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) We chose them based on their strong clinical results, large market potential and unique advantages.
White, who has had successful leadership roles in large corporations and start-up companies in medical devices and personal computers, said the malaria and sickle cell technology was developed by research teams lead by Brian T. Grimberg, PhD ,and Umut A. Gurkan, PhD, both assistant professors at CWRU.
Hemex Health co-founder, Chief Innovation Officer Peter Galen, sits on the translational research committee at CWRU which provided initial funding to the inventions. White and Galen, who first worked together at Hewlett Packard, have also partnered in other companies developing and launching many successful medical products.
"Both technologies had made considerable progress from business competition awards and grants that funded early product development and clinical proof from organizations such as CIMIT, Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, NCAI, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and Ohio Third Frontier Technology Validation and Start-Up Fund," said Wayne Hawthornefrom the Case Western Reserve Technology Transfer Office.
Galen, with 30 years of experience in biomedical engineeringand start-up leadership,explained that the Hemex device will be portable, rugged, and battery powered to operate in even the most challenging environments. Importantly, the test will be simple to take, needing only a finger-prick of blood. Each solution solves criticalunmetneeds for its target disease.
Galen noted that some 3.4 billion people(half the world's population) are currently at risk for malaria. Although 35 countries have set elimination goals, efforts are severely hampered because current diagnostics lack the speed, usability and the ability to detect certain species, low-level infections or carriers. "Our malaria solution will be a breakthrough for screening with the ability to accurately identify even asymptomatic carriers in remote locations," Galen said. "This is all done in under a minute for only about one dollar per test."
Concerning sickle cell, Galen pointed out that 500 million people carry the gene for sickle cell and related disorders. There is no useful point-of-care test available today. "The result," said Galen, "is that very few newborns are tested in those underserved areas that account for over80 percent of people with "Hemex's sickle cell diagnosticeffectively addresses this issue by "miniaturizing a more expensive and complicated test called electrophoresis, he said. The new devicedelivers a portable, lowcost ($2) 8 minute test that accurately identifies sickle cell disease, he added. Galen saidthe same test effectively identifies sickle cell"trait," a single gene that, while it usually does not yield symptoms, may other parent also carries the trait.
CEO White said that Hemex is now building additional units for clinical trials in Ghana, Kenya, India and Peru. She expects that the initial markets for Hemex diagnostics will be in India, Southeast Asia, South America and Africa, where the target diseases are prevalent and there is significant need for an affordable, portable solution.
About Hemex Health
Hemex Health was founded on the belief that people everywhere, no matter how underserved or remote theirregion, deserve access to affordable, life sustaining medical care. Hemex products are designed to be easy to use and to provide benefit quickly and effectively for the healthcare worker and patient at the point of need. The company's leaders, with backgrounds in international business and biomedical engineering, have decades of success in developing and delivering scores of products that have made a difference in people's lives.
Backed by the leadership's extensive experience in medicaltechnology success, Hemex's business focus is to target global locations working to eliminate goals malaria, and serving the large, populations at risk for sickle cell in the developing world, where few are currently tested.
More information can be found by going to www.hemexhealth.com
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CONTACT:
Patti White, CEO
Hemex Health
503. 703.7696
p.white@hemexhealth.com
