The newest crop of medical devices won’t work solely by performing an action on the human body. Some of them will also work on the mind. Case in point is Chrono Therapeutics, a medical technology startup that has developed a new twist on an old approach to smoking cessation. The company is pairing conventional wearable technology with a mobile app that has the smarts to deliver a double-barreled approach to accomplish a key element of smoking cessation – behavior modification. The Hayward, Calif-based company’s idea has won over both the healthcare and investment communities, who have joined to commit $47.6 million in venture capital funding.
The Series B round of investment brought on lead investor Kaiser Permanente Ventures, along with a lengthy list of venture capital firms. Including the Chrono’s earlier Series A round, the company has raised about $80 million total, the Wall Street Journal reported. So what’s got investors so excited? For one, it’s a huge market. More than 480,000 American die from smoking, and more Americans are addicted to nicotine than any other drug, the Journal explains, citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Though nicotine patches are a well established therapy for smoking cessation a lot of people fall through the cracks. That leaves an opportunity for new medical technology.
Chrono’s technology includes a wearable sensor on the skin programmed to deliver nicotine when smokers feel their strongest cravings. Unlike the standard nicotine patch, which delivers nicotine continuously throughout the day and wanes by day’s end, Chrono’s nicotine delivery matches the peaks and valleys of craving throughout the day, explains MobiHealthNews. Besides the timed delivery, the device includes an interactive app that keeps users engaged with their smoking cessation programs. It’s another way to fight cravings.
Chrono, which has been researching and developing its technology for the last two years, says it will need to run additional clinical trials before it files for marketing clearance from the Food and Drug Administration. That filing could come by 2018. But when it does reach the market, Chrono pledges it will be an over the counter product, which means that it will be more widely available to more of the people that need it. The company also tells MobiHealthNews that it is exploring arrangements to make the device a benefit in employer-sponsored health insurance plans.
Smoking cessation is a huge market, but Chrono has learned enough about timed drug delivery to realize that it’s just a starting point. The company tells MobiHealthNews that its technology could eventually find use delivering medications treating opioid addiction, pain management, and Parkinson’s disease. That makes the Chrono device a platform technology upon which the company can launch a wide multiple smart and interactive drug delivery devices addressing a wide range of conditions.
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