I am doing some general research on what kind of startups are out there trying to improve/disrupt the biotech/health-care/patient-care industry. Please let me know if you know of any interesting startups that are in these industries.
How about if I tell you what I view as one field that falls short of expectations and then you can scratch it off your list. I work in the medical research field, specifically in cardiac stem cells and stem cell therapies. The aim is to inject stem cells into the scarred/diseased portions of the heart with the hope that these stem cells will regenerate into or 'grow up to be' adult cardiac cells. In short, from my own research and those of others, injected stem cells have only produced mechanical improvements, ie, the cardiac function (output or pumping action of the heart) improves by 5%. Many see this as a 'measurable' benefit (despite double blind studies). Personally, I see it as within the limits of statistical error. The other problem (and no one has conclusively demonstrated) is that there is no electrical activity coming from or being generated from these engrafted cells. So, to make a long story short, stem cells in the realm of the heart and as a therapy has hit a brick wall. In culture, stem cells have been shown to differentiate into their intended adult cells. But in reality, and with so many other variables, the injected stem cells may act entirely different once they are injected into the heart. Many startups in this area will try to spin it and say 'we are very close, we just have to tweak it'. But in my opinion, 'injected cardiac stem cells' and 'regeneration' just don't go in the same sentence anymore...
Medical outcomes informatics.<p><a href="https://www.medify.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.medify.com/</a><p>I'm not entirely clear on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it's a thing.
Well, we're doing some pretty awesome things to disrupt the way medical records are interacted with electronically!<p><a href="http://www.elationemr.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.elationemr.com</a>