STARTUPS & INNOVATIONS

CORONAVIRUS INNOVATIONS

FDA-cleared at-home urinary tract infection test kit maker Scanwell Health Inc., founded in Anaheim, is working with Lemonaid Health in San Francisco to develop an at-home test for the coronavirus.

Scanwell Health is creating a smartphone app that offers an online questionnaire and physician consultations with Lemonaid staff, who will determine eligibility for tests. Once ordered, patients will receive a test within one business day.

The company will offer a blood-based serology test for COVID-19 via its licensing partner Innovita in China and Lemonaid physicians will provide further guidance upon results.

It expects to offer the service for a $70 fee, which covers consultation, testing, shipping and labor.

Scanwell Health launched in 2017. The company has since relocated its headquarters from OC to Los Angeles but maintains a research and development facility in Anaheim.

Scanwell Health raised a $3.5 million round of funding in November from the Founders Fund and Y Combinator, among other investor groups.

Epam Systems Inc., a $10 billion-valued software firm, is working with Irvine-based Curogram Inc. to integrate its telemedicine and text messaging platform with healthcare systems in the U.S.

Curogram is a HIPAA-compliant platform with two-way text messaging, video chat and telemedicine features, which works with any electronic health record system, according to company officials. 

Curogram recently developed a COVID-19 crisis response platform to help overwhelmed systems streamline screening, testing and treatment. The platform provides online questionnaires and risk assessment tools, self-registration for testing, scheduling for walk-in appointments via text and more. 

Curogram’s COVID-19 platform “significantly reduced staff time for screening and reduced staff and PPE (personal protective equipment) requirements at our testing site by almost 75%,” said Jennifer Rizvi, director of clinical operations at Houston’s United Memorial Medical Center.

Houston’s UMMC started using Curogram’s platform in late March. 

Curogram raised a $1.8 million seed round with participation from over 80 medical professionals in November. 

Epam Systems (NYSE: EPAM) said it will help healthcare systems implement Curogram’s technology platform. It is an enterprise software development, design and consulting firm in Newtown, Pa.

Learning Ovations Inc. in Irvine has released a Home Literacy Coach web-based application for parents and caregivers to help students in kindergarten through third grade meet and exceed grade-level reading standards. 

The app is based on Learning Ovations’ data-driven approach to literacy and was created within two weeks at the request of the U.S. Department of Education. 

The app launched on April 2 and is free for parents and caregivers throughout the COVID-19 crisis. It offers quizzes and recommends reading lessons and learning activities to keep children on track. 

Learning Ovations’ A2i Professional Support System uses algorithms to recommend the best instruction for each child. It is used in more than 100 schools including the Anaheim Unified School District. 

The company was awarded a federal five-year, $14.7 million grant to incorporate, test and prove its approach to education in 2017. 

Founder and Chief Executive Jay Connor said results have been successful thus far: 94% of children that have gone through all three years of the program read at grade level by the end of third grade, compared to the national average of 64%. 

Learning Ovations’ 25-person team is working remotely throughout the coronavirus pandemic. The company has an office at The Cove at UCI Research Park. 

OFFICE SPACE

A healthcare network that connects startups to capital and resources, Los Angeles-based ScaleHealth, is taking space at the Innovation Institute’s Innovation Lab in Newport Beach. 

ScaleHealth, previously known as ScaleLA, offers coworking space and industry connections to select startups in the healthcare industry. 

Chief Executive Taylor McPartland launched ScaleHealth’s L.A. incubator in 2019. 

It now has a network of 55 venture capital firms and funds, in addition to connections with hospitals and federal organizations. Members include Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and Los Angeles-based patient management system Gyant, an Octane accelerator alumnus. 

The company said it hopes to replicate its success from L.A. in Orange County. An expansion to Vietnam is also in the works, according to its website. 

The Innovation Institute, based in La Palma, is an early-stage incubator program owned by a nonprofit hospital network. The organization has about 15 portfolio companies; it has stakes in each company.

Vision Engineering Ltd. has opened a 2,700-square-foot “Tech Center” in Irvine. 

The opening of the center was planned before the COVID-19 pandemic and an official launch has been postponed.

Vision Engineering is an international medical device manufacturer based in England. The company has about 250 employees worldwide with U.S. operations based on the East Coast. 

The company decided to expand to Irvine because of its established medical device companies and startups, according to Richard Nagel, vice president of sales and marketing for the Americas. 

Nagel noted the company is particularly interested in Orange County’s optical companies and companies using augmented and virtual reality, and wants to work with companies from “concept to developed product.”

Vision Engineering develops microscope products and launched its DRV (Deep Reality Viewer) that offers 3D visualization without glasses or headgear at the end of 2019. 

NEW HIRES

Augmented reality headset maker Ocutrx Vision Technologies LLC in Irvine added Dr. Daniel Ting to its medical and scientific advisory boards. 

Ting is a professor at the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center in Guangdong, China and has published more than 176 peer-reviewed papers including many on artificial intelligence and the retina. 

Ting said Ocutrx is “at the forefront of technology innovation in the fields of low vision and retinal impairment,” pointing to its Oculenz ARWear headset for age-related macular degeneration patients and ORLenz for surgical visualization in the operating room; the Oculenz ARWear is expected to start shipping this quarter. 

Ting added that Ocutrx’s wearable devices can collect valuable data on patients’ activities and behaviors to determine progression or remission from a disease.