Dr. Meesha Dogan, the CEO and co-founder of Cardio Diagnostics, comes from a family with a two-generation history of heart disease.
Having spent extensive periods interacting with people affected by heart ailments, Meesha co-founded Cardio Diagnostics, a precision medicine biotech company that combines epigenetics with artificial intelligence to aid in the early detection and primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Cardio Diagnostic's flagship product, the Epi+Gen CHD, is an integrated epigenetic-genetic risk assessment test that predicts the user's 3-year risk of a heart attack.
Powered by genetic and epigenetic biomarkers, this highly-sensitive clinical test can be prescribed by a clinician, allowing them to gain insights into your cardiovascular health and construct a personalized heart disease prevention plan.
With less than $500,000 in funding, Cardio Diagnostics successfully launched the Epi+Gen CHD in January 2021. And as of now, the company has secured both dilutive and non-dilutive funding and collaborative relationships with key organizations, such as Mayo Clinic and Intermountain Healthcare.
The epigenetics market was valued at around $0.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to hit about $3.0 billion by 2028. With this promising projected growth and an exponential adoption rate of AI in healthcare, Cardio Diagnostics is favorably positioned to revolutionize heart disease prevention in the near future.
In this episode of Medsider, Meesha shares how her company leveraged unconventional approaches to navigating the product development, fundraising, commercialization, and real-life adoption of their flagship product.
Key Learnings from Meesha's Experience
- Reverse-engineering a solution to an existing need in healthcare isn't the only way to build a viable product. Another approach involves transforming compelling scientific breakthroughs into a marketable product designed to fulfill an unmet clinical need.
- Accessibility plays a vital role in determining the fluidity of your product's transition from lab to market. Getting your product into the hands of consumers is just as important as getting it in front of healthcare providers, organizations, employer groups, and other key stakeholders.
- The best approach to raising capital might look different from one company to another. But whether your company chooses to go public or raise funds from angel investors and venture capitalists, onboarding the right people during this process can make all the difference.
Dr. Meesha Dogan is a well-respected leader in the epigenetic space. After completing her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, she co-founded Cardio Diagnostics and co-invented its patent-pending cardiac technologies, which seek to improve the early detection, diagnosis, and prevention of heart disease through objective risk assessment testing.
You Don't Have to Start with an Unmet Market Need
For Meesha and her team, science spoke the loudest. Their core principle was, and still is, to create and release products they could back through scientific and clinical evidence. Because of this, some of the earliest days of Cardio Diagnostics were heavily rooted in science, technology, lab work, and research.
The compelling research and data birthed from these early stages laid the foundation for the creation, validation, and commercialization of the Epi+Gen CHD. In this case, scientific breakthroughs and research preceded any form of market research that pointed to an existing need.
Instead of taking the standard approach to reverse-engineer a solution based on an existing pain point in healthcare, Meesha's team thought of a solution to transform their data into a practical and accessible product that would help solve an overlooked need in cardiovascular healthcare.
The early research-driven stages were followed by consistent efforts to validate their product and educate physicians and stakeholders about the emerging field of epigenetics.
"And so, in our case, I think we did that next step right in working with Intermountain Healthcare to validate it externally and make sure that it's showing us what we saw in the proof of concept. And then I would say the next iteration of the company was to say, how do we now take something that works so well on the bench and turn it into something that works in the commercial real world," Meesha explained.
Part of the process from lab to market will likely involve collaborations with other parties. So Meesha also emphasized the importance of devoting a reasonable amount of time and resources to finding the right partners.
"I think not taking any shortcuts in finding that partner, a reliable partner, a well-known partner, someone who is truly in it for their patients, for the science, was very critical," she said.
Accessibility Should be Front and Center
Cardio Diagnostics aims to pioneer the adoption of a more comprehensive and patient-tailored approach through the combination of epigenetics, machine learning, and high-performance computing.
Meesha's team believes everyone should have access to the best possible diagnostics they can get their hands on. And this meant that accessibility was paramount to consider throughout the research, development, and commercialization process of Epi+Gen CHD.
Improving accessibility may be in the form of providing remote options. Or, it could mean setting up an online portal for customers to opt into a service or product.
For instance, the Epi+Gen CHD test may be completed through a traditional provider setting or via the telehealth route, where the consumer retrieves their sample wherever they want and schedules a telemedicine consultation with the prescribing physician.
Apart from consumers, getting your product into the hands of key stakeholders will also tilt the scale in your favor and improve accessibility.
"It won't lead to mass adoption if we're not bringing all the stakeholders in healthcare together. It just cannot be a consumer play when you are a clinical company. So for us, one of the key things that we've spent a lot of time, resources, and energy on has been to bring together providers, provider organizations, payers, patients, as well as groups like employers," Meesha mentioned.
Educating different parties on the value of your product can help you align your goals with theirs. Take, for example, how employer groups may utilize Cardio Diagnostic's risk assessment test to improve their employees' wellness and productivity through preventative care.
"The reason is it's an interconnected ecosystem, and whether we like it or not, everyone has to come together and understand what's the win-win for them," Meesha noted.
"It's an ability for us to bring together the stakeholders and say we're all working toward the same thing. We may not be working on it the same way, but there's an opportunity for us to come together and align."
The Traditional Fundraising Route isn't for Everyone
In October of 2022, Cardio Diagnostics officially announced its business combination with Mana Capital Acquisition Corp to create a publicly listed company.
Though not the conventional way of raising funds, going public may bring about various advantages to a company. For example, an IPO may provide more efficient access to capital, propelling the product development process forward, continued investment in research, attracting better talent, and generating publicity.
According to Meesha, Cardio Diagnostics had two main reasons for going public rather than raising capital via angel investors and venture capitalists.
"One was access to the capital markets, and the second is we wanted to have a public currency, whether it's to make better hires or whether it's to have more tangible ways to compensate people."
The special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) became an efficient vehicle for them to achieve this, and the decision paid off. That said, Meesha advised that it would be wise to first check your company's motivation for going public.
"I know a lot of people who went through the SPAC process because they wanted to trust money, and they were very disappointed at the back end. So truly check your motivation for wanting to go public, whichever way that is."
And throughout the entire process, it's also crucial to have the right talent onboard, whether you've chosen to go public or raise capital through seed and series funding.
For instance, having the proper legal counsel to walk you through the process and protect your company with proper representation can make all the difference when going public. It's a complex journey, and hiring the right people to improve that process is definitely not an investment you'd want to skimp on.
"You can get overwhelmed really quickly between the financial side of things that you have to do, and getting the right people on your team is absolutely crucial. It's not the time to get an intern or a discount on an attorney or a financial person," Meesha explained.
Dr. Meesha Dogan, the CEO and co-founder of Cardio Diagnostics, comes from a family with a two-generation history of heart disease.
Having spent extensive periods interacting with people affected by heart ailments, Meesha co-founded Cardio Diagnostics, a precision medicine biotech company that combines epigenetics with artificial intelligence to aid in the early detection and primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Cardio Diagnostic's flagship product, the Epi+Gen CHD, is an integrated epigenetic-genetic risk assessment test that predicts the user's 3-year risk of a heart attack.
Powered by genetic and epigenetic biomarkers, this highly-sensitive clinical test can be prescribed by a clinician, allowing them to gain insights into your cardiovascular health and construct a personalized heart disease prevention plan.
With less than $500,000 in funding, Cardio Diagnostics successfully launched the Epi+Gen CHD in January 2021. And as of now, the company has secured both dilutive and non-dilutive funding and collaborative relationships with key organizations, such as Mayo Clinic and Intermountain Healthcare.
The epigenetics market was valued at around $0.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to hit about $3.0 billion by 2028. With this promising projected growth and an exponential adoption rate of AI in healthcare, Cardio Diagnostics is favorably positioned to revolutionize heart disease prevention in the near future.
In this episode of Medsider, Meesha shares how her company leveraged unconventional approaches to navigating the product development, fundraising, commercialization, and real-life adoption of their flagship product.
Key Learnings from Meesha's Experience
- Reverse-engineering a solution to an existing need in healthcare isn't the only way to build a viable product. Another approach involves transforming compelling scientific breakthroughs into a marketable product designed to fulfill an unmet clinical need.
- Accessibility plays a vital role in determining the fluidity of your product's transition from lab to market. Getting your product into the hands of consumers is just as important as getting it in front of healthcare providers, organizations, employer groups, and other key stakeholders.
- The best approach to raising capital might look different from one company to another. But whether your company chooses to go public or raise funds from angel investors and venture capitalists, onboarding the right people during this process can make all the difference.
Dr. Meesha Dogan is a well-respected leader in the epigenetic space. After completing her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, she co-founded Cardio Diagnostics and co-invented its patent-pending cardiac technologies, which seek to improve the early detection, diagnosis, and prevention of heart disease through objective risk assessment testing.
You Don't Have to Start with an Unmet Market Need
For Meesha and her team, science spoke the loudest. Their core principle was, and still is, to create and release products they could back through scientific and clinical evidence. Because of this, some of the earliest days of Cardio Diagnostics were heavily rooted in science, technology, lab work, and research.
The compelling research and data birthed from these early stages laid the foundation for the creation, validation, and commercialization of the Epi+Gen CHD. In this case, scientific breakthroughs and research preceded any form of market research that pointed to an existing need.
Instead of taking the standard approach to reverse-engineer a solution based on an existing pain point in healthcare, Meesha's team thought of a solution to transform their data into a practical and accessible product that would help solve an overlooked need in cardiovascular healthcare.
The early research-driven stages were followed by consistent efforts to validate their product and educate physicians and stakeholders about the emerging field of epigenetics.
"And so, in our case, I think we did that next step right in working with Intermountain Healthcare to validate it externally and make sure that it's showing us what we saw in the proof of concept. And then I would say the next iteration of the company was to say, how do we now take something that works so well on the bench and turn it into something that works in the commercial real world," Meesha explained.
Part of the process from lab to market will likely involve collaborations with other parties. So Meesha also emphasized the importance of devoting a reasonable amount of time and resources to finding the right partners.
"I think not taking any shortcuts in finding that partner, a reliable partner, a well-known partner, someone who is truly in it for their patients, for the science, was very critical," she said.
Accessibility Should be Front and Center
Cardio Diagnostics aims to pioneer the adoption of a more comprehensive and patient-tailored approach through the combination of epigenetics, machine learning, and high-performance computing.
Meesha's team believes everyone should have access to the best possible diagnostics they can get their hands on. And this meant that accessibility was paramount to consider throughout the research, development, and commercialization process of Epi+Gen CHD.
Improving accessibility may be in the form of providing remote options. Or, it could mean setting up an online portal for customers to opt into a service or product.
For instance, the Epi+Gen CHD test may be completed through a traditional provider setting or via the telehealth route, where the consumer retrieves their sample wherever they want and schedules a telemedicine consultation with the prescribing physician.
Apart from consumers, getting your product into the hands of key stakeholders will also tilt the scale in your favor and improve accessibility.
"It won't lead to mass adoption if we're not bringing all the stakeholders in healthcare together. It just cannot be a consumer play when you are a clinical company. So for us, one of the key things that we've spent a lot of time, resources, and energy on has been to bring together providers, provider organizations, payers, patients, as well as groups like employers," Meesha mentioned.
Educating different parties on the value of your product can help you align your goals with theirs. Take, for example, how employer groups may utilize Cardio Diagnostic's risk assessment test to improve their employees' wellness and productivity through preventative care.
"The reason is it's an interconnected ecosystem, and whether we like it or not, everyone has to come together and understand what's the win-win for them," Meesha noted.
"It's an ability for us to bring together the stakeholders and say we're all working toward the same thing. We may not be working on it the same way, but there's an opportunity for us to come together and align."
The Traditional Fundraising Route isn't for Everyone
In October of 2022, Cardio Diagnostics officially announced its business combination with Mana Capital Acquisition Corp to create a publicly listed company.
Though not the conventional way of raising funds, going public may bring about various advantages to a company. For example, an IPO may provide more efficient access to capital, propelling the product development process forward, continued investment in research, attracting better talent, and generating publicity.
According to Meesha, Cardio Diagnostics had two main reasons for going public rather than raising capital via angel investors and venture capitalists.
"One was access to the capital markets, and the second is we wanted to have a public currency, whether it's to make better hires or whether it's to have more tangible ways to compensate people."
The special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) became an efficient vehicle for them to achieve this, and the decision paid off. That said, Meesha advised that it would be wise to first check your company's motivation for going public.
"I know a lot of people who went through the SPAC process because they wanted to trust money, and they were very disappointed at the back end. So truly check your motivation for wanting to go public, whichever way that is."
And throughout the entire process, it's also crucial to have the right talent onboard, whether you've chosen to go public or raise capital through seed and series funding.
For instance, having the proper legal counsel to walk you through the process and protect your company with proper representation can make all the difference when going public. It's a complex journey, and hiring the right people to improve that process is definitely not an investment you'd want to skimp on.
"You can get overwhelmed really quickly between the financial side of things that you have to do, and getting the right people on your team is absolutely crucial. It's not the time to get an intern or a discount on an attorney or a financial person," Meesha explained.
