ARTICLE SUMMARY:
An Israeli start-up offers chronic lung disease patients a wearable device with a human-like therapy paradigm to clear blocked airways and restore quality of life.
For individuals living with chronic lung disease such as COPD and cystic fibrosis, keeping the airways clear of mucus buildup is a constant demand, requiring regular sessions of breathing treatments and exercises guided by a respiratory therapist, if and when one is available. Otherwise, the airways become inflamed and damaged due to infection, impacting patients’ ability to breathe normally and causing their quality of life to decline. Each major inflammation event, known as a pulmonary exacerbation, requires systemic antibiotic treatments and can lead to hospitalization, further deteriorating the patient's condition, and costing the healthcare system nearly $10,000 per instance.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, resources quickly scarcened for these patients as they were driven out of hospitals and toward at-home care. Physicians were dismayed at the fact that patients could not seek adequate treatment and that their conditions worsened as a result. Now, even as restrictions on hospital entry have largely been lifted, respiratory therapists are among the top 12 most in-demand medical professionals, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and millions still cannot access the care they need due to staff shortages and financial constraints.
In April 2020, senior respiratory therapist Gil Sokol and pediatric pulmonologists Moshe Ashkenazi, MD, and Ori Efrati, MD, clinicians at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, had a goal to create a device that would be able to deliver the same therapy as an experienced respiratory therapist automatically, sparing travel time for patients and precious resources for hospitals. With this mission, they founded Synchrony Medical that October and began product development, but they needed someone with experience in wearable devices to see the project through. Anat Shani, a biomedical engineer by background, had worked extensively with wearables before pursuing her MBA and becoming connected with Sokol, Ashkenazi, and Efrati through MEDX Xelerator after a semester abroad at Wharton Business School, and she eventually joined the Synchrony Medical team as CEO.
