| Website | spocmedical.com |
| Category | Other |
| Employees | 5 |
| Founded | 6/06 |
| Description | Clinical Phase Medical Device |
| Total | $800k |
| Seed, 10/06 | $300k |
| Seed, 6/07 | $500k |
Business Description
SPOC is a Technogenesis™ company formed at Stevens Institute of Technology via the office of Institute Technology Initiatives. SPOC has developed a clinical and technological platform that promises to greatly increase the accuracy with which muscle pain is diagnosed and drive down health care costs associated with chronic pain. SPOC has set forth to capitalize on an opportunity to work with Dr. Norman Marcus, a leading pain management physician, on developing a medical device to facilitate his revolutionary method for pain diagnosis.
Photo:Muscle Pain Detection Device (MPDD)
Market:
The primary market will be pain management physicians and will then expand to sports medicine, physical therapists, and fitness centers. There will be a parallel expansion with general practitioners at a different saturation rate due to disparity in the need for pain diagnosis in routine checkups vs. the greater need by pain and physical therapists. Ideally the SPOC device will be as common as the stethoscope in a physician’s hand. Signaling a new era in pain diagnosis where the idea of chronic muscle pain will be virtually nonexistent.
Utilizing November 2003 Bureau of Labor Statistics data an estimate for the potential U.S. market is $1.6 billion and an additional $2 billion globally, for a total potential market of $3.6 billion.
Veterinary medicine is another potential market, but quantitative analysis is pending.
Market Positioning:
SPOC does not compete with current methods of pain diagnosis. Instead, SPOC will enhance current methods of diagnosis and treatment. Thus, helping realize the full value of current diagnostic tools such as MRI, CT scan, X-ray standard physical examination.
SPOC will compliment the pharmaceutical industry by helping doctors to properly correlate the prescription of pain killers to the correct source of pain. This may help patients achieve lasting relief by pharmaceutics alone, rather than more drastic procedures such as surgery.
Technology:
SOC incorporates two technologies, one of clinical methodology and one for device technology, for a combined diagnostic package that allows for a revolution in the accuracy and precision of muscle pain diagnosis. The first is a diagnostic method developed over 50 years by a series of key opinion leaders in pain management. The contemporary expert in this field is Dr. Marcus who’s patented version of this methodology allows for the diagnosis of muscles in a dynamic, natural, state (as opposed to static). This simple feature greatly increases the precision of the diagnosis while the unique methodology provides isolation of the pain generator, increasing accuracy. The device was developed by SPOC and incorporates leading edge technology for trans-cutaneous-electroneural stimulation, a safe, effective and proven way of stimulating muscle. The patented Dr. Marcus method and the SPOC device are inherently linked, a powerful innovation in the management of chronic pain.
History:
SPOC was conceived at Stevens Institute of Technology as a senior design project in Professor Vikki Hazelwood’s Biomedical Senior Design class during the Fall of 2004. Building on the initial meeting Dr. Marcus on October 22, 2004, SPOC developed functional prototypes that were delivered in February 2005. Success of the initial prototypes spurred the current business development relationship between Stevens Institute of Technology ITI, SPOC and Dr. Marcus.
Business Strategy:
SPOC has been developing technology Stevens Institute of Technology over the past 10 months and is currently in a business development relationship with the Office of Institute of Technology Initiatives (ITI) to incubate such the resulting technology. SPOC is capitalizing on their relationship with NYU physician Dr. Norman Marcus to collaborate and co-develop a medical device. Additionally the team is capitalizing on Dr. Marcus’s relationship with NYU Medical School for the deployment of a preclinical trial to test the device. All efforts are geared towards full patent litigation and product commercialization within 12 months.
Competition:
SPOC will be the first to market with diagnostic estim. No other entity has yet to put forth estim for diagnostic purposes. This is a completely unique claim that allows SPOC to create the market for such application and benefit from an initial void of competition. Manufacturers of similar technology (TENS manufacturers) may adapt current products in attempts to compete with SPOC. Within 12-18 months of SPOC market launch, there is possibility for significant competition. SPOC will capitalize on its first to market status and established reputation as the leader in diagnostic estim to weather any competition.
Competitive Advantage:
Competitors will face significant difficulty because they will not have support of a key opinion leader in the field, Dr. Norman Marcus, one of a handful of masters in the unique technique for pain management that SPOC integrates into its technology. Additionally, SPOC will hold the first intellectual property for the application of diagnostic electro neural stimulation, thus allowing for broad control of this field and first to file on subsequent developments related to diagnostic electro neural stimulation (estim).
SPOC holds intellectual property on the unique claim of estim for diagnosis and a corresponding device. SPOC and Stevens Institute of Technology ITI have an exclusive relationship with Dr. Norman Marcus to make use of patented methodology. Dr. Marcus has close relationships with leading pain management physicians. Dr. Marcus is an invaluable marketing tool because he his willing to use his excellent reputation in medical community to endorse and promote product/methodology. Investment Strategy:
SPOC is a company formed at Stevens Institute of Technology via the office of Institute of Technology Initiatives (ITI). ITI is providing support for patent litigation of SPOC technology and support for prototype development. Once the R&D phase is complete and the project is approved for advancement, SPOC will require an infusion of capital to launch production and marketing of the device.
Current: Seed capital via Stevens Institute of Technology ITI relationship. $800,000 Bioseed Fund via Connecticut Innovations Future: A round of investment for undetermined amount.
