Welcome to "Tech Talks: Disrupting Healthcare," an insightful Q&A blog feature that takes you behind the scenes of the dynamic world of HealthTech startups. Join us as we dive deep into the minds of innovative founders who are revolutionizing the healthcare landscape through cutting-edge technology solutions. In this series of candid interviews, we explore the journeys, visions, and challenges faced by these trailblazing entrepreneurs as they navigate the intersection of technology and healthcare. Get ready to gain exclusive insights into the latest trends, breakthroughs, and transformative ideas shaping the future of healthcare.
Q&A with Rob Kibler, Partner at Dianyx Innovations
HJK Digital
Can you provide an overview of your Healthtech startup and the problem it aims to solve?
Dianyx
Do you remember “Intel Inside”? Intel processors made computers better and faster. They realized the true opportunity in the computer industry was not making them, but making them better.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) impacts 200 million people globally.
1 in 15 US adults have OSA, which means they stop breathing during sleep…every single night. To make matters worse, the main form of therapy (CPAP). Image a ventilator (mask, hose, machine). The main treatment alternative to CPAP is Oral Appliance Therapy (OAT.)
Dianyx Innovations is taking a page from Intel in creating sensor technology to make oral appliances (OA) “smarter”. This technology creates user data, which empowers clinicians to manage sleep apnea better.
Clinicians are confident in oral appliances and less reliant on CPAP. Patients are happy.
HJK Digital
What inspired you to start a Healthtech company?
Dianyx
Dianyx was formed at Happy Hour. The founding group have independent practices that focus on diagnosing and treating OSA. A few years into our professional and personal relationship we found ourselves discussing (at length) a clear need in the Dental Sleep Medicine Industry and the lack of CPAP compliance.
About 50% of patients prescribed a CPAP actually use it, leaving millions untreated. Further, 90% of patients that have worn both CPAP and an OA, prefer the OA.
We dove in immediately, forming a company, exploring product-market fit, hiring an engineering firm, and writing Intellectual Property.
HJK Digital
Were there any personal experiences or gaps in the healthcare industry that motivated you?
Dianyx
The founding group represents the stakeholders that stand to benefit from the technology. In that aspect, our commitment is unwavering. Doctors Canfield and Emerick are Diplomates of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine. Together, we have built Ohio Sleep Treatment, a Dental Sleep Practice, where we treat OSA with OA full-time. In growing this company, we met Dr. Asim Roy, who is board-certified in Sleep Medicine and Neurology. From our collective experience, we understood the need for sensing technology to enter the OA market, granting access to a therapy that patients truly wanted to use.
HJK Digital
How does your product/service address the specific challenges or pain points in the healthcare sector?
Dianyx
Our product, technology-enhanced sleep appliance (t.e.s.a.), collects user data during sleep. This data is transmitted securely to the cloud where it is processed into key Sleep metrics. These data points can be used by the medical community to evaluate how effective OAT is at managing OSA. For example, clinicians can observe how long a patient was sleeping and if they stop breathing, and how often. These nightly insights drive better care management. In turn, the time spent reviewing data, communicating with patients, and managing the disease creates a revenue stream for the medical community in the form of remote patient monitoring - just like CPAP.
HJK Digital
What is the unique value proposition of your Healthtech solution compared to existing alternatives?
Dianyx
The current solution, DentiTrac by Braebon Medical, is embedded into Oral Appliances and measures temperature. This translates to use, or “compliance”.
This solution has several limitations.
Patient data is not accessible on a nightly basis
Data is limited to temperature and does not provide insights into sleep staging, oxygen levels during sleep, heart rate variability, etc.
There is no revenue stream for the medical community
We cannot easily understand if Oral Appliance Therapy is reducing the cost burden of OSA
t.e.s.a. creates a nightly stream of meaningful data the medical community can use to manage patient outcomes and make evidence-based care decisions.
HJK Digital
In terms to go-to market planning, what are the top 2 areas of focus that a founder needs to prioritize?
Dianyx
Developing relationships with prescribing clinicians, which includes clinicians in Sleep Medicine, Primary Care, and Cardiology. These clinicians are our prescribing “customer”.
Developing relationships with Oral Appliance manufacturers. These distribution partnerships allow Dianyx technology to be placed on multiple oral appliances.
HJK Digital
What are the biggest challenges you have faced as a Healthtech entrepreneur, and how have you overcome them?
Dianyx
Developing a strong regulatory strategy is something any first-time MedTech start-up is critical for success. We work with several industry experts in achieving this.
HJK Digital
How do you stay updated with the latest advancements and trends in the Healthtech industry?
Dianyx
Associations, MedTech newsletters, consultants like Project MedTech, and lots of reading on “personal time”.
HJK Digital
What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to enter the Healthtech space?
Dianyx
Product-market fit or bust - make sure there are customers at the end.
Develop the ability to think in the past, present, and future.
Surround yourself with experts, make mistakes and respond quickly.
Its a long, hard road. Get buy-in from your family and support system. This cannot be overstated.
Rob is a proud graduate from The Ohio State University, having degrees in Security & Intelligence and Psychology. Upon graduation, he discovered an entreprenuer spirit, partnering with a college roomate to grow an e-commerce business over the course of four succesful years. He then spent three years in a business development role in the commercial insurance industry working for Jackson Sumner & Associates, an North-Carolina-based brockerage firm. In 2018, while attending a wedding in Thailand, Rob was introduced to Oral Appliance Therapy (OAT) for the treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea, setting the new course of his career. Currently, Rob oversees Business Development for Ohio Sleep Treatment, a Dental Sleep Medicine practice that specializes in OAT. Additionally, he is a co-founder and CEO of Dianyx Innovations, an Ohio-based MedTech start-up creating tehnology-enhanced sleep appliances (t.e.s.a.).
For more information visit: Dianyx Innovations
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