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Rodney Brown on NECN: Hacking into medical devices
Medical startup VeinAid LLC is looking to address varicose veins with a disposable plastic device, eliminating the need for surgery or other expensive, sometimes ineffective therapies.
Varicose veins affect some 30 million Americans, resulting in a potential $300 million a year market after five years, according to Tom Kottler, the founder and CEO of VeinAid. “It’s a significant medical problem, with lots and lots of people carrying the symptoms,” he said.
A varicose vein is caused when valves pumping blood up from the calf muscle to the heart fails. Gravity pulls the blood back down the vein, resulting in a backflow that distends and discolors the vein, explained Kottler. Treatments for varicose veins have been around for centuries, and include stripping the vein, sclerotherapy injections, compression stockings, or catheter-based vein ablation. Such therapies are often expensive, painful, and don’t always present a final solution, said Kottler.
Fairfield Conn.-based VeinAid’s treatment relies on a specially molded piece of plastic, costing about three dollars, which is affixed to the leg at the highest point where the varicose vein is visible. The device puts gentle pressure on the varicose vein and prevents the blood from flowing back down into the calf and reduces reflux by as much as 95 percent. Cosmetic improvements can occur in as little as 90 seconds, the company claims.
VeinAid’s approach is noninvasive and relatively inexpensive, which makes it unique, according to Michael Tal, associate professor at the Yale University School of Medicine, who serves on the company’s medical advisory board.
The VeinAid devices have gone successfully through clinical trials, according to Kottler, who expects VeinAid to receive 510k clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and hit the market in the first quarter of 2010. The company has already raised $2 million from founders and angels, and expects to secure up to $3 million more in the next year through a Series A round.
Kottler is a former corporate litigator turned investor and inventor. Among other companies, he founded Boston-based health-care billing software maker MedAptus Inc.
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