Meet NXgenPort, a St. Paul, Minnesota-based startup that wants to remotely monitor cancer patients between doctor visits using a port catheter. Presented at TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield today, NXgenPort is building an implantable chemoport that features additional sensors and remote communication functionality. The port combines chemo-port efficacy with sensor technology to measure the onset of complications and remotely monitor patient response to treatment as it progresses. The goal of the port is to alert medical professionals to signs of infection, reduce hospitalizations, and collect vital physiological data to improve patient outcomes.
NXgenPort is the brainchild of CEO and Co-Founder Kathy Skinner, who came up with the port idea based on her own experience 20 years ago after her father passed away from cancer. His diagnosis sent Skinner on a course to work in the oncology field and become a cancer exercise specialist. In the year In 2016, she was working with a breast cancer patient and Skinner noticed that her condition had gotten worse since the last time she saw her. The patient went to her doctor and learned that the medicine she was taking to prevent cancer was also damaging her heart.
“When she told me the story, I saw that she had a chemo port implanted in her chest for the drug, and I was amazed that we didn’t know sooner how the drug was damaging her heart,” Skinner told TechCrunch. Interview. “I always knew I had a great idea, but I needed a team to build around it.”
That’s when NXgenPort COO Rosanne Welcher, PhD and CTO Muhammad Ali MD, PhD entered the picture. In the year In 2019, Skinner was at a conference at Harvard and sat next to Welcher for lunch, and the two began discussing their careers. Once Skinner learned that Welcher was a scientist with 25 years of experience in cancer diagnosis and management, she shared her thoughts with NXgenPort. Skinner and Welcher then formed the company in May 2020 and filed for a non-provisional patent in Utah. Their attorney hired Ali to create product drawings for his invention patent, and Ali then shared his passion for the product and joined their team with his expertise in rehabilitation science and cardiology.
NXgenPort is loaded with microelectronics and batteries. The device has optical sensors that pass through the catheter. After a port is implanted in the chest and the catheter is passed through the patient’s heart, the device captures images of blood cells, compresses the data and sends it to the cloud, where it is analyzed by machine learning. Skinner noted that cells vary in size and composition, and the company trained an algorithm to count different cells and showed trends in whether blood cells were changing, for better or worse.
“By implanting a chemotherapy port and integrating it with our technology for remote patient monitoring, we were able to detect changes in red blood cells and white blood cells, cardiac output and vital signs,” Skinner said. “Currently, if a patent needs to know if they’re eligible for their next chemo appointment, they have to drive to the clinic and have their blood tested. And if their blood cell count is off, they’re ineligible and have to go home. We’re monitoring remotely and showing changes over time as the data shows signs of infection, if patients need to come in early for a blood draw, or if they need to change their chemo schedule.
NXgenPort is still in the process of receiving FDA approval, so the company cannot yet test it on humans. The startup is moving to animal testing this year, and it’s starting with pigs. According to Skinner, the startup expects to begin human trials by the end of 2025.
“This is a very difficult and very big thing that we want to do by taking optical sensors that are used in the lab, counting cells, and activating them in the bloodstream,” Skinner said. “So we’re facing some important challenges, but at the same time, when we achieve this, it will completely change how you manage cancer patients. In the year Coming to market in 2025 will be ideal because the hospital home models will be more mature and we will be ready to integrate.
As for funding, the startup closed a pre-seed round in March 2022, which included investment from friends and family of the co-founders, mHUB Accelerator and Edwards-Elmhurst Health Ventures. NXgenPort is raising $4 million in seed funding, but has yet to announce its lead investor. The company’s Series A investment round, which Skinner says will hold $10 million, will take place in 2023.
As for the company’s business model, Skinner says the startup is looking at licensing its technology to port manufacturers, pharmaceutical manufacturers and virtual clinic trial companies. The NXgenPort itself is slightly more expensive than the standard port, which is usually around $270. In addition to the hardware, the startup will have a subscription model for its software that collects and analyzes results for physicians. Skinner said the cost of the software will be around $40 or $50 a month and will be billed to the hospitals that manage the ports.
Although the startup is focused on cancer right now, Skinner said the startup aims to branch out into an umbrella company with different product lines in the future. The startup looks at the possibilities of having optical sensors that collect a patient’s blood count and have implanted devices in dialysis, cardiac care and veterinary medicine.
