Early June 2012, Fenwick & West and Rock Health co-hosted The Fenwick & West Investor Summit with the goal to bring innovative health technology companies and Silicon Valley venture capital together. The ‘Emerging Digital Health landscape’ was the theme to show how today’s innovations and forward thinking ideas can change how things are done to advance health care. We saw many innovations that may perhaps change the way we practice health today.
The day started with great speakers who discussed issues and topics that the health care industry deals with today and the challenges that venture capital faces when finding meaningful projects to invest in.
The second half of the day was to showcase companies that are looking to disrupt, if not revolutionize, the way things are done. These new ideas may not only help with just healthcare but can also be an integral part of clinical trials. Take a look, you may be using these tools in the near future.
HealthTap
HealthTap is an Interactive Health Network dedicated to improving health and well-being. Its goal is to personalize health information and provide free online and mobile answers from physicians in the U.S. Ron Gutman is the Founder and CEO and his vision is to provide people with reliable, personal health information, and trusted answers to real health questions. He also wants to foster and support the organization of the world’s health data and information to support physicians and to enable people to make the best possible health decisions.
Their website states that: “We envision a world where people everywhere can find quick, reliable answers to their health questions, and tap into their personal health information, using HealthTap to manage their health and well-being. We’re realizing this vision by helping connect people with trustworthy physicians, online and offline, and by improving the quality of care, while saving time and lowering the costs of care.”
Orca Health
Orca Health, founded by Matt Berry, builds ’Patient Education’ Applications with the goal to help people make better decisions about their healthcare. ‘SpineDecide’ is the first application they launched in 2010, and in 2011 Apple’s App Store named another app they launched ‘EyeDecide’ the best iPad / iPhone Medical app in App Store Rewind 2011 in the US. Their website states: “Whether used in consultation with a healthcare specialist or on their own, their best practice guidance will help guide individuals to the best possible outcome.”
Sano
This company’s vision is ‘developing a powerful mobile health monitoring product that will reveal new insights about stage-zero care.’ Founded by Raj Gokal and Ashwin Pushpala, Sano Intelligence is a Rock Health 2012 portfolio company. Visit their website to follow and see how they plan to change the status quo.
goBalto
We also presented at the summit, we showcased how we are changing the way clinical trials are started. We deliver easy-to-use web solutions for clinical trials. By reducing the time it takes to get clinical trials started we can help get drugs to market faster. It was great to see our friends form Rock Health presenting and connect with the Bay Area community.
In Closing
There are no shortages of great innovative ideas that have the potential to change they way things are done to better healthcare as it stands today. Have you come across any technology that you think can be applied to the clinical research field?
Feature image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/
