It’s been 50 years since Dr. Tom Fogarty invented the catheter-based treatment for blood clots that’s now the standard of care. At 80, it would be a cinch for Fogarty to retire to his California vineyard and bask in the reflected glory of his accomplishments.
But Fogarty, a serial entrepreneur with more than 30 medical device startups under his belt, told MassDevice.com recently that he has no plans to slow down until he’s 6 feet under.
In Part 2 of our 3-part series, Fogarty takes us on a tour of The Fogarty Institute for Innovation, affectionately known as "The Fog Shop."
It’s been 50 years since Dr. Tom Fogarty invented the catheter-based treatment for blood clots that’s now the standard of care. At 80, it would be a cinch for Fogarty to retire to his California vineyard and bask in the reflected glory of his accomplishments.
But Fogarty, a serial entrepreneur with more than 30 medical device startups under his belt, told MassDevice.com recently that he has no plans to slow down until he’s 6 feet under.
In Part 2 of our 3-part seires, Fogarty takes us on a tour of The Fogarty Institute for Innovation, affectionately known as “The Fog Shop.”
Fogarty puts a lot of time and passion into the Fog Shop’s resident companies. Founded in 2007, the incubator gives young enterprises free space and access to resources. Fogarty and other members of the Institute’s leadership take great care in picking technologies and teams they believe in, arming them for the hurdles they face getting their products funded, approved and on the market.
"Probably one of their biggest challenges is raising money, but we’ve done pretty well with that too," president & CEO Anne Fyfe told us during a recent visit to the Mountain View, Calif., incubator. "I think that we’re getting a little more of a reputation that this is a good place to put a company, because we de-risk them for a couple of years."
Fogarty
Fogarty’s dedication to his Fog Shop resident startups is evident – he even turned an 80th birthday party last month into a gala fund-raiser for the Institute, with incubating firms demonstrating their technologies for potential donors at San Jose’s Tech Museum. Guests who donated to the Institute were treated to a special wine tasting from another offshoot of Fogarty’s passion, the Thomas Fogarty Winery & Vineyards.
The Fog Shop takes in young companies that aim to provide an important patient benefit while also lowering costs for the healthcare system. The residents receive pro bono legal services, guidance from physicians and industry veterans, access to prototyping and bench-testing tools and free space to grow in.
The Fog Shop
The Fogarty Institute for Innovation has 8 emerging companies in residence now, most focused on maternal and infant health:
- FirstPulse: Non-invasive fetal monitors to replace the often-faulty ultrasound belt and the invasive spiral-shaped scalp needle that screws into the fetal scalp.
- InPress Technologies: Disposable devices to treat postpartum hemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal death worldwide.
- InterVene: A catheter-based technology that creates new valves out of native tissue in the patient’s veins, replacing compression therapy and local wound care procedures that 80% of patients fail to comply with.
- Materna: A device that helps prepare the pelvic floor prior to to labor, helping prevent vaginal tearing that takes place in 80% of vaginal births.
- MedicalCue: Monitoring and resuscitation systems for newborns, focused on the critical few minutes directly following birth where newborns are at highest risk of asphyxia.
- nVision: A suite of women’s health technologies, starting with a device to address fallopian tube blockage.
- Prescient Surgical: A disposable surgical retraction system with active infection-prevention technology.
- Vida Systems: Cloud-based interactive medical education with customizable lesson plans and interactive anatomical structures.
Most of the companies at the Institute now are developing technologies for maternal or infant health. They entered the Institute at varying stages, some of already organized with funding in place, others with little more than a concept. All of them, however, represent viable, marketable technologies built by teams that are poised to deliver, resident advisor and executive director Kerry Pope told us.
"Virtually all of these companies are 24 months or less to commercialization, which is not a long time," Pope explained. "Most of them are moving the business along with very small chunks of capital."
Fogarty himself is almost always around, poking at the prototypes and dishing out his trademark brand of tough love tempered by constant optimism. His own experiences as a medical device inventor taught him never to tell anyone that their dreams are impossible, Fogarty told us.
"I think for the last 25 years I’ve never said it’s impossible," he said. "Now I just listen."
One of the primary lessons Fogarty hopes to impart to his protégés is that healthcare engineering, with all its stumbling blocks and market hurdles, is an end in itself. Getting rich is just a perk; the real reward comes through helping people and improving care.
"You’re here to meet a patient need," he explained. "You’re not here to get patents, you’re not here to make money. You need patents, but that should not be your sole goal.
"It’s wonderful to be able to innovate, particularly in the medical field," Fogarty added. "If you developed something that is adopted by other physicians, then you’ve touched many patients. If you just operate on somebody, you’ve touched 1 patient. It’s much more satisfying to have been involved to such an extent you benefit many patients. That’s very satisfying."
"This guy’s mind just works differently." – Edwards Lifesciences CEO Mike Mussallem
The Institute was borne of Fogarty’s frustration over the treacherous landscape facing young medical device inventors. He sees companies languishing and even going bankrupt while trying to bring something new to hospitals, a problem he blames largely on an overbearing FDA. But at heart, he’s a relentless optimist, believing that change is possible and innovation is its key.
"How are we going to improve in medicine? We’re only going to improve by innovation," Fogarty said. "We can’t do the same thing the same way and do all the patients the same, it ain’t gonna work. Nobody will get better, we’ll make no progress. We have to make things better so that patients can lead a better life. We ought to do it with cost in mind, safety in mind and benefit in mind."
Fogarty told us he plans to be a part of the evolution of healthcare for as long as he can. He’ll retire, he said, "when they bury me."
"Where am I in my life? I’m pretty much where I want to be. I’m doing what I love doing," Fogarty said. "I’ve contributed to society some. I want to continue to do that."
