This article is part of a series looking at all the competitors of UT Dallas’ 2020 Big Idea Pitch Competition.
An electric shock to the gut – that’s what Regulife Medical’s technology is looking to deliver. But its team of scientists, medical professionals and innovators are hoping to use it to treat the symptoms of patients with gastrointestinal disorders.
Formed in September, Regulife was spun out of Dallas-based biomedical device company Qualia, which own seven other tech-enabled medical device companies. However, Regulife is focused on developing a device that uses neuromodulation tech to stimulate nerves in the intestines, helping to relieve discomfort in patients. It’s something the company says is becoming more critical now that many are looking for in-home treatments rather than making a trip to the hospital.
“With many individuals foregoing their regular healthcare visits during this time, it is increasingly important for people to have more at-home therapy options. Thus, the need for our first device… is even more critical,” Benedict Voit, CFO at Regulife and VP of finance at Qualia, told NTX Inno via email. “We hope to expand and improve the use of bioelectronic medicine as an accepted treatment alternative to drug therapies and as a means of providing therapies where none were previously available.”
The company is currently prototyping its first wearable product for clinical trials, which it hopes to finish within the next year. It then hopes to begin testing in trials that are already being conducted by the Qualia team. Though regulatory approval can take a while, Regulife has already begun its first phase of lab production and hopes to be in human clinical trials with a hospital-based removable device and an implantable device by 2025.
What inspired you to start your business?
As a professor at UT Dallas, Dr. Walter Voit developed a platform technology for fabricating thin film electrodes onto specialty plastics. His academic collaborations connected him with Dr. Jay Pasricha, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Neurogastroenterology. As they worked together to develop novel research tools for further understanding the gastrointestinal nervous system and how diseases could be treated by controlling the signals to these nerves, they recognized the large, untapped opportunities to use bioelectronic medicine for improved solutions across gastric motility, gut inflammation, diabetes and obesity.
What is one of the biggest challenges you have faced so far? How did you overcome it?
Success isn’t driven by an idea but rather by the successful implementation of that idea. And implementation takes resources. Like most start-ups, we are strapped for resources but we make up for it with the passion and dedication of a highly motivated and diverse team that spans universities, hospitals, companies, and locations including Dallas/Richardson, Baltimore, Ann Arbor and even London. Additionally, our parent company, Qualia, Inc., has laid much of the administrative and legal groundwork for the company's formation and IP translation out of the university.
Personally, what impact do you hope to have through the work that you do?
In the U.S. alone, it is estimated that almost 31 percent of adults experienced acid reflux symptoms just in the past week, over 42 percent of the population suffers from obesity, and over one in 10 Americans have diabetes. Current treatments, mostly medications, are often insufficient. Providing better approaches to controlling a wide range of GI disorders including acid reflux, gut inflammation, diabetes and obesity would prove beneficial both at the individual level (for those needing new, more effective treatment options), as well as at the societal level (a healthier society eases medical and financial burdens). Regulife Medical can play a significant leadership role.
This interview has been edited for clarity and grammar.
