Remmie Health founder and CEO Jane Zhang said August 2024 was a good month for her 6-year-old company, particularly when it comes to exposure in the world of health innovation.
Remmie has developed an otoscope with a camera instead of a lens that allows parents and caregivers to share images of a child’s ears, nose and throat to help diagnose conditions remotely. Research is taking place now to develop an Artificial Intelligence (AI) enhanced platform to record ENT medical history and eventually aid in diagnosis.
In mid-August, Remmie won the Pediatric track of the Pitch. Launch. Grow. competition at University Lab Partners (ULP) in Irvine. This was the fourth annual competition, but the first with a pediatric track. The win came with a $2,500 prize, a year of sponsored wet-lab bench space at ULP and a mentorship session with Dr. Terence Sanger, MD, PhD, the chief scientific officer at CHOC (Children’s Hospital of Orange County) Research.
Sunstone is a sponsor of the contest.
“University Lab Partners and Consortium for Technology & Innovation in Pediatrics established the pediatrics track at the annual competition for the first time,” Zhang said in a release. “Amazing move to foster research and innovations into pediatric care; thank you for what you do for millions of kids and their families.
“It’s a huge win for us!”
Zhang had made a presentation for the consortium earlier in August in Chicago at the 2024 Pediatric Device Symposium. Presentations are on tap later this year at conferences specifically addressing the use of the Remmie 3 otoscope with virtual healthcare, allowing doctors to see conditions remotely.
History
Remmie Health got its start in 2018, while Zhang was working on her MBA at UCLA (she had received a PhD several years before in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University). Her young son suffered from recurring ear infections and Zhang wanted a way to avoid repeated urgent care or emergency department visits.
“It started out as a student project,” Zhang said. “Then we won a pitch competition and needed to find some way to invest the prize money!”
The concept was simple – take the basic tool of Ear, Nose and Throat doctors, the otoscope, and use it to create images or video streaming to help with remote diagnosis. Zhang had previous experience in healthcare product R&D with large firms, and partnered with Elijah Tsai to come up with the new product.
“We were able to participate in multiple accelerators, including the Tech Stars’ United Health Care, and Plug & Play,” Zhang said. “We used other resources like Octane OC and Life Science Washington’s WIN programs for pitch review and networking.”
The Remmie 3 otoscope was FDA-certified and went on the market on Oct. 1, 2023. The company projects more than $1.2 million in revenue this year.
Next Steps
In June 2024, Remmie Health received a 2-year Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 grant for nearly $3 million from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. That money will be spent to develop Remmie.ai, an AI-driven diagnosis assistance tool that will enhance ease and accuracy of remote diagnosis.
“This grant is a milestone in AI healthcare, enabling more accurate and efficient diagnostic assistance tools for ENT conditions, addressing the $40 billion global market for accurate ENT diagnosis,” Zhang said. “This will ultimately help increase access, reduce costs, and enhance confidence in diagnosis and referral care for patients worldwide.”
Zhang said the concept is to create networks with Remmie.ai so doctors and families could remotely make healthcare decisions, saving time and money. The AI component could help with monitoring chronic conditions as well as help with preliminary diagnoses, she added.
“The AI (diagnosis) does take validation,” Zhang said. “You always want to be careful. But we can work with professionals to ease their burden.”
The two years of research will refine the AI platform and network to integrate into clinical practice. With the time it takes to receive all the necessary approvals, Zhang said she hopes to have the system fully operational within five years.
Zhang’s team is currently split between her Washington headquarters (she is an Affiliate Assistant Professor at the University of Washington) and Orange County, Calif. Manufacture of the Remmie 3 otoscope is outsourced to China and Taiwan with software and apps developed in the U.S.
For more information, go to remmiehealth.com.
©2024 Sunstone Investment Group
Disclosure: Remmie Health is a portfolio company in the Sunstone Horizon Fund II, LP.