Life sciences firms tag top three spots in BU $30K

TeleEMG, a nascent life-sciences company focused on the diagnosis of pain, recently won the $30K Business Plan Competition at the Boston University Entrepreneurial Management Institute.
The Boston-based company will receive a $7,500 cash prize and about $6,000 in in-kind services relating to legal and business expenses.
Winning $4,000 was Natalus Inc. and receiving $1,000 for taking third was Boston Microfluidics. These two teams also each receive $6,000 in services.
Boston University neurology professor Joe Jabre founded TeleEMG in 1997. Its software, Expert Neurographer, is designed to minimize errors in interpretation in widely performed diagnostic nerve conduction studies.
In his presentation before four judges, Jabre said thousands of medical professionals are in business to determine the cause of pain but close to half are “partially trained providers.”
Though he did not state it, he seemed to be talking about chiropractors and others who do not have medical degrees. Jabre and his team have developed a software-based analysis program that would help these individuals arrive at more accurate assessments of their patients’ problems.
“Diagnosing pain is big business,” said Jabre. “We have developed diagnostic algorithms to help providers, and we are confident that insurance companies and others will support our program.”
TeleEMG has developed its software after crunching numbers on large databases developed through the records of individuals who have reported pain.
TeleEMG’s services will be automated, repeatable and billable and delivered to the provider over the Internet at the time of service.
Until now, the company has derived its revenues from selling training tapes from their web site. Jabre said the company has 2,000 unique visitors per day, and thus has the potential to succeed in selling its new service.
Other team members include Byron Salzsieder, Petra Botha and Laura Marx.
Natalus, headed by Jordan MacAvoy, Claude Drugan and Daniel Burnett, is a new medical device company focused on innovations in the obstetrics and gynecology field.
The team has roots at B.U., and is based in California. Members have designed, developed and filed patents on a system for the prevention of perineal tearing during vaginal births.
Its key product will be a cylinder device that fits into a vagina to stretch the muscles of a birth mother after her water has broken.
Judges said that it was an intriguing concept but the company would face challenges in educating the public about its safety. It would also face the possibility of litigation, as lawsuits are prevalent in the world of obstetrics, according to the judges.
Placing third was Boston Microfluidics. The company was started by Brandon Johnson, a biomedical engineer who received his education at B.U. Other members of the team include Timothy Coleman and Peter Their.
The group is developing a device that can identify sexually transmitted disease in hours as opposed to days. The tool would be marketed to organizations such as Planned Parenthood, whose members do more than 1 million diagnostic tests per year.
Judges said that a weakness of the plan was that it focuses on a large national organization that, in actuality, makes purchase decisions on a chapter-by-chapter basis.
Judges also displayed skepticism that Boston Microfluidics could mount an effective sales and marketing plan in an environment in which there are already numerous competitors.
Judges included Jonathan Gertler, of Adams, Harkness & Hill; Charles Lax, GrandBanks Capital Partners; Louis Volpe, Kodiak Venture Partners; and Gordon Penman, Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels.
Principals of all three companies said they would continue their efforts to obtain funding.