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Avisa Pharma™ Inc., (AVISA) is a Point Of Care, In-Vivo Platform Technology Company With An Innovative, Integrated System For The Rapid Detection And Monitoring Of Respiratory Diseases. A paradigm shift away from lab based In Vitro testing; an In Vivo, point of care, breath test that measures the whole lung, live organisms, not a single culture sample in a petri dish or PCR;for non sputum producers - the only test that can detect lung bacteria without a sputum culture; A razor/razorblade Model to Drive Rapid Market Penetration and Growth.

Focused initially on respiratory health, the clinical study strategy is to pursue fastest route to regulatory approvals, the detection of Tuberculosis (TB), followed by Healthcare Acquired Pneumonia (HCAP), Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP), Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and COPD. These applications have the potential to help save millions of lives and millions of dollars in healthcare costs each year, and a multi billion $ market opportunity.  

$6 million Series A1 Preferred round underway, $4 million received from current investors exercising preemptive rights. Q1 2015 Avisa will be launching a 40 patient pilot TB study in South Africa.

Baxter Ventures is the strategic venture arm of Baxter International Inc. that was formed in 2011 and is based in Deerfield, Illinois. The firm is currently making equity investments out of a $200 Million fund with allocations generally falling in the $3-$5 million range. The firm is looking in invest in companies who have previously or are currently in the process of securing investment from other institutional investors. The firm is willing to look globally for investment opportunities and plans to make approximately 2 new investments over the next 6-9 months.

BioScience Managers is a venture capital life science investment firm headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. The group makes equity investments from $3M-5M and anticipates about 6 new investments this year. BioScience Managers invests globally. 

BioScience Managers will invest in companies across the life science space, including therapeutics, diagnostics and medical technology. The group does not invest in service providers. BioScience Managers considers all subsectors and indications, including orphan indications. The group will consider technology either in or prepared for human clinical trials and is open to all classes of devices. BioScience Managers seeks investments in novel technology and is not looking to gain share of an existing market. 

Biosight, LLC  is a start-up biomedical device company developing a low-cost technology that will enable health care providers (HCPs) to discriminate amongst different types of tissues so that they will no longer need to use the blind and semi-blind approach to procedural instrument placement. The key intellectual capital of Biosight, LLC, (Biosight) is medical procedure needle tip tissue identification using multimodal spectroscopy (MMS) technologies first developed in the Laser Biomedical Research Center (LBRC) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Several founding members of Biosight are the pioneers in this field and have established collaborations with clinicians at the Massachusetts General Hospital to identify clinical areas for this technology. Currently, Biosight, LLC is working with several investors in Massachusetts to further develop the device for numerous clinical applications

Brio Device, LLC is a medical device company and spin-out of the University of Michigan Medical Innovation Center based in Ann Arbor, MI. Brio develops airway management devices and intubation instruments.

PROBLEM: High Intubation Failure  

There are 20M+ intubations performed in the US every year. Depending on setting and skill of the clinician, failure rates range from 2% - 40% resulting in approximately 2,000,000 intubation failures every year. Intubation, the procedure to insert a plastic tube into the trachea, requires significant expertise and experience to do well.  With current products in the market, the tube often is inserted multiple times before it is properly placed, resulting in damage to the patient such as broken teeth, torn vocal cords, or insertion into the stomach leading to aspiration and pneumonia.  Three main factors affect intubation success rates: the user’s experience level, having directional control of the tube during insertion, and continuous visualization appreciated in bronchoscopes.  Clinicians need a single go-to device which is appropriate for use both in routine intubation and difficult airway cases offering guidance, maneuverability and visualization necessary to be successful. Failed intubation is the most common preventable cause of trauma-related deaths.  Approximately 180,000 deaths per year list complications associated with failed intubation.

SOLUTION: Brio’s Articulating & Video Stylets  

Brio is introducing a suite of products intended to improve intubation success rates for planned and emergent intubations, minimizing reliance on clinician skill for success.  The products range from disposable mechanical devices to devices with imbedded software providing anatomic image recognition guidance for the clinician. The devices have three critical elements to assist users in locating the trachea and maneuvering the endotracheal tube. 

1. Articulating tip with thumb-controlled steering

2. Continuous visualization

3. Visual guidance software 

BUSINESS MODEL

Brio’s core competencies are R&D, product development, sales and marketing of medical devices.  Projections are built on three revenue streams: two disposable stylets (one with and one without a camera) and a reusable video display.   Brio has an agreement with a manufacturing partner to facilitate design history files, regulatory compliance, manufacturing and customer service.

FUNDING  & MILESTONES

Brio has received $815,000 funding, including $690K in non-dilutive grants and $125k in convertible notes.  The Company has received Small Business Investigational Research (SBIR) Grants from the NIH.