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Originally published on 04/29/2002
One of the cornerstones of modern medicine is imaging -- viewing the body's insides without actually opening it up. We have x-rays, of course, and more recently ultrasound, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), and CT (computed tomography) scans.
Fast Facts:
Envisia Medical
(no website) |
| CEO |
Onne Ganel. Previous job: marketing director, WestInvest
|
| HQ |
Philadelphia, PA |
| Employees |
4 |
| Market |
Medical imaging software |
| Funding |
Looking for "bridge" of $50,000 to incorporate before raising series A |
| Profitable? |
Projected in 2006; major milestone is Medicare approval, projected for 2007 |
Aside from basic x-rays, all these technologies lean heavily on digital processing, and thus benefit from advances in software and computing hardware. Imaging devices are more compact than they used to be, because faster processors and better software can make a good picture out of signals from less-powerful (smaller) hardware. Witness the new portable ultrasound products from companies like GE Medical Systems and the startup Novasonics.
Also, software can now see things that couldn't be resolved before. For example, a very early-stage company, Envisia Medical, is attempting to market software that images bone structure at the microscopic level.
Today, x-rays are used to measure bone density, which is important when treating osteoporosis. But current dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans can't hold a clinical candle to a bone biopsy, which unfortunately is a highly invasive procedure. Envisia promises the clinical efficacy of a biopsy without the surgery. Using data from MRI scanners, its software can resolve, in three dimensions, what's inside bones.
Envisia, a business school project, just won the Wharton Business Plan Competition. The technology comes from the University of Pennsylvania's radiology department.
Like Rainmaker, which I covered last column, Envisia takes existing hardware and squeezes more usefulness from it. As MRI scanners themselves get smaller and cheaper, the potential market for this software will expand as well. Medical imaging software is thus like early PC software -- riding the curves both of software innovation and hardware development. Now if only there was a common operating system for all those imaging devices....
- Rafe Needleman
email: rafe-needleman@catchoday.com
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