| DEALFLOWUPDATE Issue #28. Friday, March 22 |
Hello everyone, For this edition of the Zoic newsletter, we are highlighting several deals representing our continued interest areas of mental conditions and diagnostics. For diagnostics, we have some new topics such as infectious diseases as well as post-surgical care. -Neal We’re continuing with our new format for this issue, please send us comments if you enjoyed the different layout or if you preferred the previous approach. If this is your first issue, please subscribe and consider sharing with others. Additionally, we welcome news from our readers, if you’re up to something interesting, let us know. Email chad@zoiccapital.com |
 DealflowMental health continues to see the rise of new technologies to address conditions traditionally managed with only pharmaceuticals. The promise of, in particular, directed energy is strong, as more efficacy results show these therapies could replace drug regiments without severe side effects. For example, a recent study shows that electrical stimulation can be used to treat epilepsy, specifically those that are resistant to drugs. Some forms of epilepsy can be even more severe and require surgical intervention. In these cases, there is another gap in the market as the sensors used to guide these operations are inadequate for the type of sensitivity required. Continuing this theme, another study combined several of our interest areas: mental conditions, surgical robotics and medical devices for drug delivery. The study showed the effects of treating Parkinson’s with a surgically implanted drug delivery system that delivers a new protein. Even in the case of a pharmaceutical development path, there are several elements here that could have shorter-term exits; platforms such as robotic surgery and the drug delivery system itself would be regulated as medical devices. Even the protein itself, if going through a fast-track approval system, could fit within the time frame portion of our thesis. Another way of approaching the pharmaceutical industry with technologies with a medical device exit timeframe is through research systems. We have talked about synthetic tissue and organs before, especially systems on a chip to simulate responses to a potential drug. A significant advance for mental health would be to simulate nerve responses to a new drug and to new device methods. A company has raised funding recently to develop technology to produce such a chip platform technology. Even ways to better simulate how neuro-degenerative diseases form and propagate would be very useful in learning how these conditions start and develop. Our next theme is diagnostics, as it often is. However, this time we’ll be talking about diagnostics for infectious diseases. In particular, several government agencies are now collaborating to help develop and deploy fast diagnostic technologies in the case of an outbreak. This can be a new infectious disease or a variant of an existing one. Some of the characteristics that we look for in a consumer-based molecular diagnostic, such as fast time to result, low cost, ease of use, and platform applicability, would be the same for rapid response to a new infectious agent. A company with a primary consumer focus could still, in parallel, license, and partner with such agencies to develop the same platform for these infectious disease applications. Finally, for diagnostics, an area of interest for this field is still in-hospital use. The requirements for such a device might be different, especially for use during or after surgery. However, a system that is used to, for example, monitor for post-surgical complications like bleeding would most probably also be used at home, after discharge from the hospital. The user interface and data requirements, then, could actually be quite similar to a purely consumer-based diagnostic test. The data network especially, for communicating with the caregiver and payers, would be just as important as the device itself. Links featured: •Neuroelectrics touts FDA IDE Starstim epilepsy treatment study data •Parkinson’s patients have tubes placed in brain in protein study •Axosim raises $1m for nerve-on-a-chip tech •FDA, CDC, and CMS launch task force to help facilitate rapid availability of diagnostic tests during public health emergencies •Bleeding monitoring system for endovascular procedures gains FDA approval  Spotlight #ZoicNews Dr. Vivienne Ming, Zoic Capital Senior Advisor, recently visited Johannesburg to speak to PwC South Africa during their annual Exponential Growth event. California-born and bred Dr. Ming is a cognitive neuroscientist, entrepreneur and member of the faculty at the pioneering Singularity University. She is also one of the world’s leading experts in artificial intelligence (AI). Business News presents a short interview with Dr. Ming where she discusses the PwC event and her captivating work in AI. “Wouldn’t it be great if the AIs could find these vastly better data results better than a human could do, but then you, as a doctor, be able to work with your patient to come up with a unique and personalized treatment plan?” What We’re Reading ARS To rival Amazon, UPS enters healthcare—with doorstep vaccine delivery WAL To keep track of world’s data, you’ll need more than a yottabyte STA Flagship Pioneering raises $824 million in venture capital round, its most everQUA The bright side of the college admissions scandal Connect With Zoic Capital |
| The Biweekly Dealflow Update, curated by the team at Zoic Capital. |
Mental Health and the Rise of New Technologies
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