Alexandre Boulanger is healthier know for constructing self-balancing exoskeletons at Wandercraft. For his subsequent trick the Paris-based robotics entrepreneur is fronting work on a far lighter sort of wearable: An arm-worn patch for monitoring continual kidney illness (CKD). The medtech startup — Metyos — the place Boulanger is CEO, is a joint effort: Co-founded with CTO Olga Chashchina, who holds a PhD in biomedical engineering the place she gained specific experience with biosensors that’s crucial to what the pair are cooking up right here.
In recent times there’s been an explosion of curiosity in biowearables pushed by developments just like the commercialization of steady glucose displays (CGMs) for diabetes administration. On the identical time rising prices of healthcare provision has elevated stress on companies to search out smarter methods to deal with costly points like continual illness administration, with out compromising high quality of service. Biowearables supply a possible route to assist sq. this circle for a spread of continual well being circumstances.
Metyos’ aim is to construct related arm-worn (semi-invasive) real-time sensing tech as is already established for diabetes administration, so which might additionally detect chemical adjustments in fluids slightly below the pores and skin, however which is concentrated on monitoring biomarkers linked to continual kidney situation. It desires its biowearables to be prescribed by medical doctors as a part of a distant remedy administration package deal for sufferers — suggesting the strategy may assist medical doctors remotely spot warning indicators linked to renal failure and hyperkalemia.
For sufferers, the aim is to empower them to develop into a extra lively participant in their very own care — by providing suggestions (equivalent to weight-reduction plan) and higher understanding of CKD through the app. So the startup is taking a dual-sided strategy which goals to deliver data-driven insights to medical doctors and sufferers, each. Which seems to be good and crucial: If cell tech has carried out something it’s given customers an expectation of gaining access to data and being saved knowledgeable.
The startup says its biowearable will monitor ions and minerals that may construct up within the blood stream when kidney operate is affected, sending information to an app on the consumer’s smartphone, through Bluetooth. From there the tech will likely be designed to relay consumer information to Metyos’ safe server within the cloud the place well being professionals monitoring the affected person’s situation can entry it and remotely observe illness development.
The staff began work on Metyos again in 2021, with the assistance of “some love cash” and a public grant, as Boulanger tells it. Up to now they’ve constructed a prototype of the biowearable and performed some bench assessments.
They’ve simply closed a pre-seed spherical of €2.3 million (~$2.5M) to fund the subsequent stage of growth which is able to entail working medical trials to additional consider and refine the expertise. Lead buyers within the spherical embrace Cenitz, Bpifrance and KIMA Ventures.
Being a medtech startup Boulanger confirms Metyos received’t deliver its tech to market with out regulatory approval — which he says it’s focusing on by the tip of 2025. By way of goal markets, the staff are specializing in Europe (particularly their house market of France) and the US. Typically, the main focus is markets the place distant affected person monitoring reimbursements exist and/or are being developed, per Boulanger.
How did the serial enterpreneur provide you with the thought for this startup? “I had gained loads of weight so I turned interested by vitamin monitoring and by extension, in biochemistry monitoring,” he tells TechCrunch.
On the identical time Boulanger’s co-founder, Chashchina, was coping with a continual well being situation. So when the pair met their pursuits aligned on the thought of constructing a biowearable. “She has to do loads of blood attracts and wished a device to assist her with the every day administration of her situation,” he notes. “So we began with the consumer/affected person standpoint on biowearables and we partnered early with medical doctors to refine the medical wants.”
The startup’s aim is to develop a sensing wearable that may enhance well being outcomes for CKD sufferers and monetary outcomes for the healthcare system by enabling distant organic monitoring of sufferers with the continual situation.
Metyos cites statistics which recommend there are greater than 800 million CKD sufferers globally.
“CKD is without doubt one of the main continual ailments when it comes to prevalence, mortality and value. It’s a progressive illness with no treatment (however many therapies for the related circumstances) so it may be essential for sufferers to decelerate or cease the development of the illness,” says Boulanger. “We predict distant monitoring permits us to anticipate opposed occasions, enabling clinicians to make well timed medical choices and sufferers to be extra concerned daily in their very own care.”
“We’ll begin with end-stage sufferers with hyperkalemia points and lengthen our scope all the way down to earlier stage sufferers,” he provides.
Metyos is at an early stage however there’s burgeoning curiosity in biowearables so competitors within the house is rising. However its concentrate on CKD units its aside from various wearable rivals. Boulanger lists 5 startups as its essential opponents: Biolinq, Alio, Protonintel, Kalium Well being and Renalyse — the latter two additionally concentrate on kidney circumstances however of their case affected person monitoring relies on at-home blood attracts, somewhat than real-time information being pulled from a biowearable.