Thursday, September 18, 2014

Medical Device Sales: Israel ―The Land of Milk & Honey and Med Tech Boom, Part 2



By Rick Fromme

Photo credit: sajr.co.za
In the first part of this series, I discussed some of the reasons why Israel, in its nearly 67 years of existence,has today become one of the leading medical technology and pharmaceutical countries in the world. I mentioned some of its leading companies such as Given Imaging, ReWalk Robotics, Teva Pharmaceuticals and others. I also shared some of the trending headlines and stories pertaining to its med tech and pharmaceutical industries.

In this second installment, I’ll focus on the five leading med tech firms that were recently named in “Forbes” magazine’s top ten list of the world’s leading med tech companies.

ReWalk

 

Photo credit: Rewalk.com
This past summer, the FDA cleared ReWalk’s Personal System for use at home and in the community. ReWalk is a wearable robotic exoskeleton that provides powered hip and knee motion to enable individuals with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) to stand upright and walk. Culminating in over a decade of research anddevelopment, the ReWalk represents the first truly practical, real world, walking solution for persons with lower limb disabilities.

Over the past decade, ReWalk has grown from a small Israeli R&D start-up to an international company with headquarters in the U.S., Germany and Israel.

ReWalk Robotics worked with leading international rehabilitation centers in testing and developing a rehabilitation model of the ReWalk. As a result of these efforts, ReWalk Robotics has been able to develop the ReWalk Personal, the next phase of exoskeleton technology designed exclusively for use in everyday life. Employing ReWalk Robotics’ proprietary technology, the ReWalk Personal is designed for everyday use in a range of environments. It can be used at home, work, or other locations. It functions outdoors and on different surfaces or terrains. The ReWalk can sit, stand, allows turning and has the ability to climb and descend stairs. The batteries that supply power are intended for all day use and are recharged overnight. It’s customized and sized for each individual user. It’s available after meeting requirements from a medical examination and successful completion of the required training program. The company also offers a comprehensive maintenance and warranty program for the system once the units are taken home.

The ReWalk Personal is currently available with FDA Clearance in the U.S., CE Mark in Europe (including Turkey) and is licensed to sell in Canada. 

ReWalk: An Israeli Miracle


uMoove


Photo credit: uMoove.com
Face and eye-tracking software has existed for decades but never like this. Founded in 2010, uMoove is a dynamic startup that created a face and eye-tracking solution, compatible with all mobile devices. Thisdelivers an additional layer of interaction to complement touch in the most natural way. uMoove's technology also enables a better understanding of user attention and interest, based on deep analysis of eye movement. Its face and eye-tracking software can actually help diagnose autism and ADHD, again based upon eye movement.

Some might be familiar with similar technologies in the form of hardware developed for the military or individuals with extreme physical limitations. uMoove offers precise face and eye-tracking on any smartphone or tablet with a front-facing camera, without the need for additional hardware of any kind.  This tool is applicable to numerous facets of contemporary society: advertising, analytics, eyewear, gaming, medical, security, and more.

uMoove created this ground-breaking technology and is now delivering it to mass audiences through mobile apps, business partnerships, and a revolutionary analytics platform.

Umoove Brings Face & Eye Interaction to Mobile Devices

Telesofia Medical


Photo credit: telesofia.com
Telesofia Medical is answering the challenge of health literacy and patient engagement by making medicalinformation clearer with innovative, interactive, personalized patient education videos.

Founded by a team of medical doctors and Internet industry veterans, Telesofia Medical’s proprietary platform allows healthcare providers to automatically generate personalized educational videos for their patients, in a way that is friendly, easy to understand and accessible on any device.

The platform is designed to support many applications, such as describing the proper use of patients’ medications, details about surgical procedures, discharge instructions and more. The fully branded videos are sent to patients via text or email or embedded in patient portals/apps.

Telesofia video solutions help doctors and other healthcare providers create customized information to their patients anywhere, anytime, and in the most engaging way possible. Doctors, PAs and APRNs can improve their patients’ understanding and adherence to their prescription instructions, thus enhancing patient safety while reducing overall healthcare costs. Caregivers can now provide complete, branded patient discharge instructions and improved outcomes by extending their treatment plan into the home. Improved communication platforms engages patients with interactive procedural education videos, providing unparalleled quality of service. Telesofia also improves the management of chronic conditions while decreasing healthcare costs. Healthcare professionals can educate, engage and support patients with customized educational videos.


 Totali LLC


 
Photo credit: totallypregnant.com
Its new app, Totally Pregnant, is a pregnancy companion app for mothers-to-be. Totali LLC is a digitalproduct development and smart applications company. The company only works with products that it’s passionate about and is involved in all stages of development, from concept through to creative, UX, UI, features, programming, testing and product marketing. It specializes in creating products that are smart, engaging and fun – products that people love.

There are now two of Totali’s products that are ready to go to market: Totally Pregnant and Totally Parents, for new parents. The idea is to create an all-encompassing platform for parents that accompanies them on the journey from pregnancy through to parenthood. Its services and technologies enable the firm to provide advanced communication between parents and local partners in each and every territory. Totali LLC was created in Texas. A large part of its marketing, creative and development team is based in Tel Aviv. 

 Totali's Totally Pregnant App

HelpAround   

  

Photo credit: helparound.co
HelpAround is an app that’s calling itself “the first sharing economy service for consumer health,” by bringing online community of diabetics to the mobile app world. When users log in, they first learn there’s already a large community of diabetics, even though the service was just launched this past July.  There are multiple layers to the community: a local, social layer that reveals people using the app around each other and the professional layer, which offers 24/7 access to nurses via a call center. App users get three free calls a month. Users can also join different communities — there’s one for Type 1, one for Type 2, one for young adults, etc.

After testing the app in various neighborhoods and communities, the HelpAround team decided to focus on the diabetes community. “The big learning point was in the idealism of strangers helping strangers. We found that chronic conditions generate camaraderie that gets people to sign up,” says one of its cofounders, Yishai Knobel.

HelpAround’s founders, Knoble and Shlomi Afalo go back to the late ’90s in an IDF R&D unit. They reconnected in 2013 to start HelpAround with the thought: make it easy for people to rely on others so as "not to get stuck.” Together, they decided to take a similar data-collection approach to online advertising, but use it to build a smart safety net for chronic patients. Unlike online advertising where the data is used for selling products, they use online data for the exclusive purpose of finding the right helpers for diabetic patients.

There are lively conversations already happening among members of the HelpAround community. Ideally, those conversations move into the real world, too. The app’s “Ask” feature allows users to request not just for online advice, but also for supplies. For example, if a user forgets their blood glucose test strips while at a friend’s house, they can send out a call for a neighbor to provide them with supplies.
 

In this second segment highlighting Israel’s dynamic medical technology industry, I focused on the five Israeli companies that were recently named as “Forbes” magazine’s top ten med tech firms worldwide: ReWalk, uMoove, Telesofia, Totali LLC, and HelpAround. If you found this article useful, please feel free to click “Like” as well as share and repost it. If you have any questions or comments, as always, I’m eager to read them.

Rick Fromme combines entrepreneurial enthusiasm with an insider's knowledge of the medical industry to co-found MedMasters.com. Both his drive and perspective helps provide health care professionals with a superior mechanism with which to communicate, network and market their strengths. Prior to founding MedMasters.com, Rick operated a highly successful medical device distributorship. Other milestones in his 12-year career in the medical industry include a key position at a medical device start-up company that was later sold to the Ethicon Endo division of Johnson & Johnson. You may also reach Rick by connecting with him on FacebookTwitterGoogle+LinkedIn and YouTube

4 comments:

  1. It used to be that cybernetic systems were stuff of science fiction. But recent developments in prosthetics proves that being a cyborg isn't all bad.

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Very interesting series. What a powerhouse of invention Israel has become.

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  4. Absolutely amazing what they are able to do today - things we never thought possible just a few years ago. Really makes you look forward to the future. Thanks for getting the word out!

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