By Anna Lin
Murphy News Service
Hosted by BioAM and Healthcare.MN, several bio and health related startup entrepreneurs demonstrated their innovative concepts recently at the Mayo BioBusiness Accelerator in Rochester, Minn.
“We are working on series events to really reinforce, inspire and promote entrepreneurship in our community,” Jamie Sundsbak, BioAM chief instigator, said.
BioAM is a bio-focused entrepreneurial community and Healthcare.MN is a healthcare technology startup company.
“Jamie has been instrumental in helping us connect with Mayo clinic and Rochester’s entrepreneurial community,” Healthcare.MN Founder Pete Kane said.
Seven companies presented demos including Perkhealth, Imanie Life Science, Datuit Care Plan Manager, Zumbro Discovery, Tracker Dashboard, Biomed and Omnis Pharma.
“As a entrepreneur, you can’t just find the problem, you have to find associated opportunity,” Zach McGill, co-founder of Perkhelth, said.
More than half of United States’ adult population failed to fulfill either aerobic or muscle-strengthening physical activity guideline set by the federal government, according to the Center for Disease and Control 2013 published statistics of United State Health Behavior of Adults, 2008 to 2010.
“How do we help people get off the couch?” McGill said. Targeted companies that focus on employees’ physical wellness and active lifestyle, McGill and his partner Doug Debold created a system by offering “wellness perks” to employees who reach their fitness goal.
The “wellness perks” are cash rewards provided by company employers to create incentives, Debold said.
Despite all the tracking apps and websites in the market, McGill and Debold hoped to physically and behaviorally change employees’ fitness habits.
Other Mayo Clinic-based companies also demonstrated their visions and products to monitor medicine treatments, connect health providers, and create cost-effective cancer medicines and track fitness efficiency.
Imanis Life Science
“How do you know certain medicine works?” Imanis Life Science CEO Kah-Whye Peng said. She introduced a non-invasive therapy imaging, a technique to track the human body for clinical purposes, technology called thyroidal sodium iodide symporter (NIS).
Datuit Care Plan
“We can’t just have people not communicating,” Sandra Ramp, co-founder of Datuit Care Plan Manager, said. Ramp’s company provides a “collaborative space” for integrated patient records that connect many health information provider sites.
Zumbro Discovery
Zumbro Discovery is a biotechnology company that is dedicated to find breakthrough in clinical development. Similarly, company Omnis Pharma is committed in developing new cancer therapies.
Novusis
Novusis is developing a tracker dashboard. It is an aggregator that would allow transferable data between of different existing fitness bands.
Biomed
Biomed company is in progress of converting pre-treatment diagnostic testing for commercial usage.
Anna Lin is studying Journalism at the University of Minnesota