During the Virtual MedTech 2020 Conference, online voters selected Vena Vitals as the winner of the 2020 MedTech Innovator Execution Award and the Virginia Shimer Rybski Memorial Award. The awards recognize Vena Vitals, a seed-stage medical technology startup based in Irvine, CA, for excellence in entrepreneurship and execution.
The joint awards were presented by MedTech Innovator, a global medical device accelerator, in collaboration with AdvaMed Accel, a MedTech firm advocacy organization. The award honors Vena Vitals for developing a small, flexible sticker that functions as a continuous blood pressure monitor.
A typical blood pressure monitor cuff provides “snapshot” monitoring; standard high-accuracy continuous monitoring requires needle-insertion into an arterial line. When affixed to the pulse-point on the inner wrist, the Vena Vitals wearable sticker monitors blood pressure beat-by-beat, giving a more precise insight into cardiovascular function.
Blood pressure varies with every heartbeat. Snapshot monitoring can’t detect variability consistently; continuous monitoring provides a clearer picture of cardiovascular health. Analysis of blood pressure variability can also predict adverse events such as stroke. Tests comparing the non-invasive Vena Vitals sticker to arterial-line monitoring show an exact match in pressure waveform readings.
Vena Vitals will receive a $12,000 grant from AdvaMed Accel and a $15,000 prize from MedTech Innovator for commercial development of the wearable sticker. Other MedTech Innovator award winners include Rhaeos, a startup that created a wearable monitor for hydrocephalus patients, and Lief Therapeutics for its wearable remote patient monitoring system for mental health conditions.
