The Next Big Things in Tech 2024 – Health

This article by David Salazar and Jessica Bursztynsky was published by Fast Company on November 19, 2024, as part of the Next Big Things in Tech 2024 awards, and is reproduced here.

A novel glaucoma treatment, a new light therapy device, and other bright ideas in the world of healthtech.

Health care and tech innovation go hand in hand. From delivering steady streams of medication to speeding up treatment of diseases, technology is now at the center of patient care. These eight companies are advancing the industry.

Anumana

For detecting diseases earlier

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death in the U.S. and across the globe. Anumana is tackling this by enhancing the utility of the electrocardiogram (ECG) with AI algorithms, so that clinicians can detect diseases earlier and more confidently. The ECG-AI algorithms were developed and trained using a real-world deep dataset from leading healthcare institutions and have been evaluated by the FDA.

Certify

For speeding up timelines

Provider data management, which governs verification, approval, and compensation of healthcare professionals, is crucial for healthcare system efficiency. But legacy methods have led to significant inefficiencies and delays. Certify created a provider data intelligence platform that streamlines and automates credentialing, licensing, enrollment, and network monitoring for payors, providers, health systems, and digital health companies. The new system cuts the credentialing and verification process time from months to minutes, potentially saving the healthcare industry approximately $2.1 billion annually by eliminating inefficient tasks related to provider data accuracy

Color Health

For supporting cancer care

Cancer care often needs to move fast. Millions of people are being diagnosed each year but only a certain number of oncologists are available to start treatment. Color Health launched an AI copilot tool (using OpenAI’s technology) to bring the expertise of highly trained oncologists to support primary care physicians and other frontline doctors in making evidence-based decisions about cancer screening and diagnostics. Color has a pilot implementation with UCSF’s Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center for new cancer patients.

Glaukos

For making set-it-and-forget-it glaucoma treatment

Managing glaucoma can be stressful. Many patients struggle with adherence to prescribed eye drops, which can affect how well their treatment works. Glaukos’s FDA-approved iDose TR is a tiny implant that circumvents the dropper. It houses a preservative-free formulation of travoprost anchored in the iridocorneal angle to deliver medication steadily over time, bypassing the cornea’s barrier. Clinical results demonstrated significant intraocular pressure reduction for at least 12 months with minimal side effects, with 81% of subjects completely free of daily eye drops.

Kineon

For bringing red light therapy into people’s homes

Founded in 2019, Kineon has focused on red light laser therapy devices for drug-free pain relief. Its flagship product, Move+ Pro, has made inroads among athletes since its crowdfunded launch. Despite the modest start, Kineon has brought a sub-$500, wearable version to a market where such clinical-grade devices are more often found in physicians’ office. Building on sales of more than 25,000 Move+ Pro units in its first 18 months, Kineon debuted two new red light therapy products in October. Heal+ targets gastrointestinal pain and rebalancing the gut microbiome while Calm+ stimulates the vagus nerve to reduce stress and anxiety. Their preorder campaign netted over $600,000.

Pangea Biomed

For improving the precision of precision cancer treatments

Only about 15% of people who could benefit from the growing number of precision cancer treatments do so. That’s because genetic testing to identify the optimal therapy takes too long. Enlight, an AI-powered tumor intelligence platform from precision oncology company Pangea Biomed, aims to speed up the process. In the past year, Pangea integrated a tool into Enlight called DeepPT. It uses tumor biopsy slides and insights from its expansive library of cancer genetics to predict patients’ treatment responses. The company claims an 80% success rate in pairing patients to precision treatments, helping to identify the best treatment for more than 2,300 patients across 40 types of cancer treated by 25 drugs. Pangea Biomed’s research pilots are now exploring if it can predict treatment responses using biopsy slide data from Oregon Health and Science University’s clinical trials.

Proscia

For making it easier and faster for pathologists to diagnose cancer

Cancer diagnosis still relies on analog processes such as analyzing physical microscope slides containing biopsy tissue. Cleared in February 2024 for use in primary diagnosis of cancer, Proscia’s AI-driven Concentriq platform digitizes the process, In one study, Concentriq more than doubled the number of cases that pathologists at testing company Quest Diagnostics could handle per hour. The Quest study also showed how other companies’ AI could integrate with Concentriq by adding Ibex Prostate’s AI algorithm for areas of a biopsy with high cancer likelihood. From June 2023 to June 2024, the company doubled its clinical client base, and Proscia now works with 14 of the top 20 pharma companies to power their pathology-based research and development.

QuantalX

For bringing brain diagnoses to the point of care

New York-based QuantalX Neuroscience is focused on speeding detection of brain disorders via Delphi-MD, which uses direct electrophysiology imaging to map the brain’s electrical network and automatically diagnose conditions. The point-of-care diagnostic device received FDA Breakthrough Therapy designations in 2021 for identifying early signs of stroke and dementia and in 2023 for identifying normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH). In 2024, the company made strides toward broad commercialization. The device is being used in two studies at the University of Illinois Chicago and is part of the FDA’s Total Product Life Cycle Advisory Program, aimed at helping it to enter the medical device market with its NPH test.

The companies behind these technologies are among the honorees in Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech awards for 2024. See a full list of all the winners across all categories and read more about the methodology behind the selection process.