MassDevice podcast: Echo Therapeutics CEO Dr. Patrick Mooney

May 31, 2011 By Brian Johnson Leave a Comment

Dr. Patrick Mooney took an interesting path to the top seat at Echo Therapeutics Inc. (OTC:ECTE), a Philadelphia, Pa.-based company developing a non-invasive, wireless, transdermal continuous glucose monitoring device for the diabetes market.

Mooney, 42, was a surgeon by training before he left medicine for the world of high finance and Wall Street, where he was a biotech analyst for Thomas Weisel Partners LLC and Janney Montgomery Scott. Lured back to the field in 2004 to run biopharmaceutical Aphton Corp. (NSDQ:APHT) for two years, in 2007 Mooney saw something that piqued his interest glinting in the ashes of Sontra Medical — a defunct MIT spinout went for broke developing a next-generation glucose monitoring device.

Click here to listen to MassDevice’s interview with Echo Therapeutics CEO Dr. Patrick Mooney. You can also download an MP3 of the interview by right-clicking.

Sontra, launched in 1998 in Franklin, Mass., went belly-up in December 2006. Mooney said he was attracted by the technology’s pedigree — it came out of Robert Langer’s lab at MIT — and felt that there was still plenty of meat on the bones.

“We saw this play at Sontra and said, ‘Wait a minute, how bad can this be? You have one of the smartest guys in engineering in the world. It’s FDA-approved. We know the technology works. It’s kind of an easy re-do,'” he told MassDevice.

Mooney merged Sontra Medical into Echo Therapeutics in the fall of 2007 and has run the company ever since.

In March, the company reported mixed earnings results for 2010. It had full-year losses of $4.3 million, or 15 cents per diluted share, on sales of $428,460. That compares with losses of $13.5 million, or 61 cents per diluted share, on revenue of $1.3 million in 2009.

Mooney told MassDevice about the Echo story, the company’s Symphony technology and how he hopes to take advantage of the huge opportunity in the diabetes space once the system is commercialized.

Click here to listen to MassDevice’s interview with Echo Therapeutics CEO Dr. Patrick Mooney. You can also download an MP3 of the interview by right-clicking.

Siemens Healthineers lands FDA clearance for two CT systems
Siemens Healthineers this week said it won FDA clearance for its Somatom go.Sim and Somtom go.Open Pro computed tomography systems. The CT systems are designed for radiation therapy planning and are members of the company’s Somatom go. platform of devices. Siemens Healthineers’ platform uses hardware and software components like patient marking lasers and automated quality… […]
Protolabs’ healthcare grant spurs 2 feeding tube inventions
Digital manufacturer Protolabs (NYSE:PRLB) announced today that MedStar Health (Columbia, Md.) and Cleveland Clinic Innovations are joint winners of the company’s Cool Idea Award: Healthcare Grant. These grants provide in-kind manufacturing services to the support development of medical products to spur innovation in the field. MedStar Health’s gravity-feed syringe holder simplifies the feeding of newborns who spend […]
Sterigenics’ legal troubles mount in Illinois
Nearly two dozen new lawsuits were filed against Sterigenics this week over its now-shuttered ethylene oxide (EtO) sterilization plant in Willowbrook, Ill., according to a law firm representing some of the plaintiffs. That brings the total of such lawsuits to nearly 75, noted Chicago personal injury lawyer Antonio Romanucci, court-appointed lead counsel from among five… […]
In2Bones launches AlloAid BioNail
In2Bones this week launched its AlloAid BioNail sterile allograft implant. The implant is designed to give rigid, stable fixation during hand and foot reconstruction. AlloAid BioNail is made from strong cortical allografts to provide osteoconductive properties for bone remodeling and healing. It features a tapered point and multiple, contoured wedge facets to ease insertion, anchor… […]
Protolabs’ healthcare grant spurs 2 feeding tube inventions
Digital manufacturer Protolabs (NYSE:PRLB) announced today that MedStar Health (Columbia, Md.) and Cleveland Clinic Innovations are joint winners of the company’s Cool Idea Award: Healthcare Grant. These grants provide in-kind manufacturing services to the support development of medical products to spur innovation in the field. MedStar Health’s gravity-feed syringe holder simplifies the feeding of newborns… […]
Nihon Kohden launches new patient monitor
Nihon Kohden (TYO:6849) announced the U.S. launch of its Life Scope SVM-7200 series vital signs monitor for outpatient facilities and beds that aren’t continuously monitored. The Life Scope SVM-7200 is designed to provide customizable early warning scoring to help clinicians identify patients who are deteriorating or at risk of deterioration. It combines vital signs data with… […]
Senate confirms Dr. Stephen Hahn to lead FDA
The U.S. Senate has confirmed Dr. Stephen Hahn as the next commissioner of the FDA. The vote was 72 to 18, according to a report in the New York Times. Hahn will be the first permanent commissioner of the agency since Dr. Scott Gottlieb resigned in April. President Trump nominated Hahn, the chief medical officer at Houston’s… […]
3M to sell drug-delivery biz to Altaris Capital Partners for $650m
3M (NYSE:MMM) announced today that it entered into an agreement to sell most of its drug-delivery business to an affiliate of Altaris Capital Partners for approximately $650 million. St. Paul, Minn.-based 3M will retain its transdermal drug delivery components business, according to a news release. The business being divested has annual global sales reaching approximately… […]
Lawsuit endangers Sterigenics consent order in Georgia
A consent order that Sterigenics entered into with the state of Georgia to reduce ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions at its Atlanta medtech sterilization plant may be in jeopardy. A hearing is scheduled today on a lawsuit that accuses the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of failing to take public comment before entering the Aug. 7… […]
Trelleborg acquires Tritec Seal
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions said today it has closed on its acquisition of rotary seal manufacturer Tritec Seal, which produces engineered polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) sealing solutions. Trelleborg said the acquisition strengthens its product portfolio while giving the business area access to increased manufacturing capacity. Headquartered in Fenton, Mich., with additional manufacturing in Giddings, Texas, Tritec Seal generated… […]
RSNA 2019: 7 radiology innovations you need to know
Nearly 53,000 people attended the 2019 Radiological Society of North America annual meeting in Chicago last week. And they heard the same acronym over and over again: AI. Exhibitors at the conference touted their artificial-intelligence-enhanced technology at every turn, claiming to make images clearer, sharper, easier to use and powerful enough to help clinicians make… […]