Marc Cohen and Sam Jazzo, the Brains Behind Crowdfunded KinometriX
August 25, 2017
Welcome back to In Conversation, a series of conversations with leaders in the BioHealth Capital Region. This week we’re speaking with Marc Cohen, PhD, and Sam Jazzo, ATC. Marc is the CEO of KinometriX, a company dedicated to providing clinicians with tools that will simplify their practice; Sam is the Chief Operating Officer at KinometriX.
BioHive: To kick things off, can you tell us a little bit about the work you’re doing with KinometriX?
Cohen and Jazzo: Imagine walking into your doctor’s office and they ask you how you feel your blood pressure is doing, and then they treat you on the basis of that impression rather than a diagnostic. That is essentially what is happening in injury rehabilitation. We’re revolutionizing injury rehabilitation by bringing objective tools into this subjective field. One of our tools is a motion sensing device that uses innovative single processing and to objectify the process. It’s a smart measuring device that can guide clinician’s treatment. We will be applying for an FDA exemption for our device, so clinicians can trust our product meets high standards for safety and efficacy.
BH: We understand that crowdfunding has been an important part of scaling up KinometriX?
C&J: Sure thing! We’ve used our device in a practitioner’s office and tested about 70 patients. For many of those tests, clinicians have billed insurance companies for the use of our device and in every case the practitioner has received reimbursement. Crowdfunding is a good way to get people interested in using the device. We think ordinary consumers aren’t our target audience, but around the country there are about 470,000 practitioners who would greatly benefit from using our device: so we’ve targeted our crowdsourcing campaign toward that market. That’s why we’ve used MedStartr to run our campaign.
BH: What excites you about opening a biotech startup in Maryland?
C&J: Our third co-founder, Dr. Michael April, grew up in Maryland and has been practicing there for 27 years. He has a lot of connections in the area—chiropractors, physical therapists, orthapedic surgeons—who are very interested in using the cloud-based platform. We have found MD to be an excellent place for biotech innovation. We’re very happy with all the support that’s coming through the state, though there could be some improvement with funding support. It’s a pretty common Catch-22 that investors won’t fund you until another investor does first. State economic development funds like TEDCO’s seed found would be really useful to solve that dilemma if they filled that role for a wider group of startups.
BH: Where do you see KinometriX in ten years?
C&J: We hope to partner with local and national insurance companies to ensure that we’re providing the highest quality care for patients. Clinicians are currently being reimbursed for the data we provide. We also hope to partner with larger physical therapy offices, big hospitals, and the military, which will all help us build towards a critical mass. Hopefully, our tool will become the standard for injury rehabilitation!
Thank you for joining us for this week’s In Conversation! Stay tuned for more.
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Over the past 11 years, Chris has grown BioBuzz into a respected brand that is recognized for its community building, networking events and news stories about the local biotech industry. In addition, he runs a Recruiting and Marketing Agency that helps companies attract top talent through a blended model that combines employer branding and marketing services together with a high powered recruiting solution.
