Bright Uro announced its company launch with $6 million in total funding, including a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Aliso Viejo, California-based Bright Uro aims to transform care for lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) with innovations in urodynamics.
The company pulled in $4 million in seed financing from Academy Investor Network, surgical robotics veteran Fred Moll and other prominent angel investors. According to a news release, the NIH awarded Bright Uro a $2 million Phase II SBIR grant as well.
Bright Uro obtained an exclusive licensing agreement from Cleveland Clinic for technology developed by the hospital system in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Case Western Reserve University, and Parker Hannifin Corporation. The company will use that technology in its investigational Glean urodynamics system.
It designed Glean to improve the patient and clinician experience through increased accuracy and comfort, enabling wireless, catheter-free urodynamics. Glean features an insertion tool, a Bluetooth-enabled pressure sensor in a flexible silicone tube, a software app for use by clinicians and patients and a uroflowmeter to sense volume and flow.
Bright Uro obtained exclusivity to the catheter-free method through its licensing agreement with Cleveland Clinic. The company said such a design may enable physicians to gather more ambulatory data with greater physiologic accuracy than the current standard of care for urodynamics.
“With 80% of urologists understanding the flaws in current urodynamics practices, it has become clear that the current standard of care leaves much to be desired. Bright Uro aims to improve the quality, accuracy, and efficiency of the care urology patients receive, and we have the unique opportunity to become a leader in this field,” Bright Uro founder and CEO Derek Herrera said in the release. “The market is large and underserved, with tens of millions of Americans suffering from lower urinary tract conditions, so we are excited about the potential of the Glean urodynamics system to have a meaningful impact on patient care and the healthcare system.”
