Berkeley, California-based Eko Devices has raised $2 million for its smart stethoscope device/platform. Founder.org led the round, with participation from Stanford StartX, and few angels, including former HHS advisor John Noonan and the cofounders of Shazam. With this latest funds, the company has raised $2.8 million to date.
Eko Devices’ product Core hooks on to an analog stethoscope to record the sound and send data to an app via Bluetooth, after which the file is uploaded to the cloud service, allowing clinicians to listen to and analyze heart sounds. Clinicians also get to use a web portal that integrates with certain electronic health records, including the one made by drchrono.
Aside from enabling remote care, the application will eventually offer its own analysis of the heart sounds based on an algorithm that Eko is building.
“One of the most exciting aspects of having digital heart sounds would be the ability to provide clinicians with decision care support,” said Eko Cofounder and COO Jason Bellet. “We are working with scientists and some cardiology advisors to build out a decision support algorithm that will help clinicians at the point of care determine characteristics of heart sound, such as a murmor, intensity, location, and then ultimately be able make more informed care decisions.”
The application will eventually offer its own analysis of the heart sounds based on an algorithm that Eko is building.Eko has submitted their device for FDA-clearance and hopes to have it ready-for-market in late Q2 2015. The device’s predicate, the Littmann digital stethoscope, was cleared in less than a month.
In addition, the company is also launching a clinical trial with University of California San Francisco (UCSF) cardiologists.
Eko’s device will retail for $199, while the accompanying app will be free for individual practitioners, whereas clinics, hospitals, and health systems will have to pay to use it.
[Via: mobihealthnews]