Any cool biotech or health-care related startups? | Hacker News Reader

Any cool biotech or health-care related startups?

4 pointshoonbae8 comments

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.

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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.

https://www.medify.com/

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!

http://www.elationemr.com

Are you in SF? I know a couple of docs who were begging for someone to build this...

We are! Feel free to put them in touch with us. Our contact information is on the site, and my email address is in my HN profile. I'd be happy to talk to you or anyone else more about what we're doing and why it's much better than what's traditionally been available!

Find Andrew or Aaron at http://www.carepractice.com/

You're gonna put in an effort though - they are a cash only practice but are keen on your kind of stuff.

http://rockhealth.com/resources/digital-health-startup-list/

http://www.curefab.com (located in Germany, Munich)

P.S. And we're still hiring interns.

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