At VentureWell, we provide a full spectrum of commercialization services that help bring innovations from lab to market—but what does that look like in practice? Follow along our Medtech to Market series, as each blog examines a real-world success story of how we support our partners, funders, and innovators.
Transformative health technology is heading to maternity care deserts nationwide.
Why do we need to accelerate innovation in this space? Women in the United States are more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth than in any other high-income country. More than one in three counties in the U.S. are maternity care deserts without a single birthing facility or obstetric clinician. Remote and home-based technologies can help fill care gaps and empower women with critical information about their health in the pregnancy and postpartum periods.
Since 2020, VentureWell has supported the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in bringing new diagnostics and medical technologies to the market at record speed. In 2022, VentureWell supported the NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Technology (RADx® Tech) for Maternal Health Challenge, part of the NIH Implementing a Maternal Health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE) Initiative. The maternal health challenge awarded $8 million over two years to teams developing medtech designed to improve maternal health for people in areas with limited access to care. The innovations include home-based or point-of-care diagnostic devices, wearables, and other remote-sensing technologies designed to extend care, reduce maternal mortality, and reach the market within three to five years.
Maternal Health Challenge Teams and Innovations
- Armor Medical: A remote monitoring system for early detection of postpartum hemorrhage
- CONNEQT: A continuous, wearable monitor for cardiovascular health
- Caretaker Medical: A wireless wrist monitor to evaluate cardiovascular health
- Dionysus Digital Health: A monitoring system for postpartum depression
- HemoSonics: A rapid, point-of-care diagnostic for postpartum hemorrhage
- Global Access Diagnostics: A rapid home test for urinary tract infections
- Sanguina: A smartphone app to detect postpartum anemia
- Sibel Health: A remote monitoring system for home or point-of-care settings
- MyLÚA Health: A care coordination system for pregnancy and postpartum care management
- PyrAmes: A wearable device for continuous, non-invasive blood pressure monitoring
VentureWell Service Spotlight: Connecting Innovators With Subject Matter Experts
We connected the Maternal Health Challenge teams with consultants to guide them through their commercialization process, including subject matter experts (SMEs), to help successfully launch their technologies. Tapping the network we’ve built over the past 30 years, we matched teams with regulatory, medical device reimbursement, business development, market and user research, community engagement, clinical practice, legal, and information technology experts, based on their needs.
The advisors and experts we contracted provided nearly 4,000 hours of support, accelerating timelines to market and helping shape valuable strategic pivots. SME guidance helped one team transition its plan from developing two products simultaneously to a stepwise approach that would speed its market entry. Another team evolved from multiple collaborating entrepreneurs into a streamlined company entity following SME consultation.
Caretaker Medical Chief Technology Officer Martin C. Baruch emphasized: “These interactions were very enriching. SMEs provided guidance on new hospital market opportunities; how to best introduce our technology into different maternal health market segments; QMS procedures; and regulatory strategy regarding sepsis, hemorrhage detection, and prediction, which we are in the process of implementing.”
Tracking Tech Progress: VentureWell’s Outcome Study
VentureWell conducted a mixed-methods evaluation to assess how the challenge accelerated the technology’s path to commercialization. For the study, our in-house data and evaluation experts surveyed the teams and SMEs, interviewed project advisors, and reviewed project records. Their analysis found that the challenge was catalytic to teams’ business and technological development, with VentureWell’s connections and expertise helping them save valuable time and capital. Most teams reported that the prize funds, expertise, and networking opportunities were instrumental to achieving their commercialization milestones.
By the end of the challenge and evaluation period, the 10 teams had achieved the following milestones:
Xina Quan, CEO of the PyrAmes team, shared: “VentureWell provided professional and compassionate project management guidance, keeping us on track during this fast-paced program. Their experience in our space, both in product development and with subject matter experts, and the introductions they provided were critical to our progress.”
Powering Women’s Health Innovation
Women and families in maternity care deserts need accessible care faster. While new technologies may not fix the systemic problems that create these gaps in care, affected communities deserve creative solutions that can address their current reality. By accelerating innovations to address postpartum hemorrhage, heart conditions, infection, and stroke for people most at risk, we work toward a future defined by improved maternal health outcomes.
This work was funded in part with federal funds from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. 75N92022D00013.