A Cincinnati-based startup has added a second location in Arizona as its partnership with the famed Mayo Clinic continues to attract attention in the ecosystem.
Sense Neuro Diagnostics, a medtech startup developing non-invasive brain scanners to detect stroke and brain hemorrhage, recently opened an office in Phoenix, expanding its physical footprint. Locally, the company is based out of Alloy Development in Norwood.
CEO Geoff Klass called it a strategic move to grow the company’s presence in the Arizona. The leased space, staffed by a consultant, also gives its Cincinnati team a place to land when working in the area.
Last month, Sense Neuro Diagnostics entered into a “know-how” license agreement with the Mayo Clinic, and the startup is engaged with the Mayo and Arizona State University MedTech Accelerator in nearby Tempe.
The company in December was also one of 10 awardees at the Arizona Innovation Challenge pitch competition. That segued into its recent selection in the Arizona Commerce Authority Venture Ready Accelerator, which helps startups refine their business plans, improve go-to-market execution strategies and increase investor readiness.
The move comes as the company “actively takes steps toward commercialization.” Sense Neuro, founded in 2014 by four University of Cincinnati physicians, is developing multiple devices. The technology is designed for use by first responders in a field setting, like an ambulance, or a hospital’s emergency room and neuro-ICU, as well as military field facilities.
“Arizona is rich with resources and talented connections focused on helping startups springboard to the next level,” Klass said.
Despite the new office in Phoenix, Cincinnati is where Sense Neuro plans to base “all its growth,” Klass said. The company currently has six full-time employees and several subcontractors.
As it gets closer to commercialization, the plan is to hire to fill roles in quality control, manufacturing and research.
He said Sense Neuro would spend 2023 working to finish its clinical trial work. The goal is to launch commercially in 2024.
Given its partnership, Mayo Clinic will be used as a trial site, as will UC. Those sites also will serve as a base for the company’s initial commercial launch. Having both as partners lends credibility, he said.
“Having high-profile health care systems like Mayo, like UC, if they’re getting in and using the devices (early), there’s a good chance others will pick up on it,” Klass said. “Those are strong relationships to have when you go talk to other health care systems that do venture investing.”
Sense Neuro is developing multiple devices: its scanners can provide continuous brain injury monitoring and allow for the rapid triage of traumatic brain injuries (TBI), while also differentiating between all three different stroke subtypes.
Mayo is working to help build out the company’s “NeuroHawk Military" product, a non-invasive brain scanner, designed to fit on a patient’s head like a cap, that will enable faster detection and triage and continuous monitoring of TBI sustained on the battlefield. TBI is a signature wound of recent wars.
Per the "know-how" agreement, Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Pierre Noel is dedicating a certain amount of hours to working with Sense in exchange for an investment in the company. The amount has not been disclosed.
The U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command's combat casualty care research program awarded Sense Diagnostics a $2.43 million contract to advance the technology further.
The company said more than 20 sites across the United States, Canada and India are currently engaged in pivotal trials to evaluate its in-hospital device, while five sites are evaluating the military field device.
