Probing for Heart Trouble

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QT MEDICAL

Headquarters: Torrance

Founder-Chief Executive: Dr. Ruey-Kan Chang

Business: Pediatric medical devices.

UCLA pediatric cardiologist and LA BioMed researcher Dr. Ruey-Kan Chang leads a medical device startup, QT Medical, that has a full pipeline.

The company, incorporated in July, could one day commercialize Chang’s collection of inventions. They range from a bedroom monitor to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome to a pocket-size probe that tests newborns for a deadly congenital heart disorder.

Chang is QT’s chief executive, but once he raises enough money from investors for clinical trials, he’ll hire a more seasoned startup executive and open an off-campus office. That could start happening within the next few months.

QT is one of two LA BioMed spin-offs set to present their technology this week at an annual investor conference sponsored by the Southern California Biomedical Council trade group.

“No sense to have all these ideas unless you can get them in the hands of doctors and parents,” said Chang, who plans to present his pulse oximeter – the heart disease screening device for newborns – at Wednesday’s conference in downtown L.A.’s Omni Hotel.

He is confident that there is a market for the device because the Health and Human Services Department in 2011 mandated that health facilities begin screening newborns for what is known as Long QT syndrome, a rare inherited heart condition that leads to a potentially deadly irregular heartbeat if not diagnosed and treated early. It can be detected with an electrocardiogram, but not reliably because they’re not designed and calibrated for newborns. Chang’s device would help hospitals meet the federal mandate, so he’s filling a market void.

“About 100 babies in the United States die from this every year,” Chang said. “What we have developed not only is made for newborns, but also can be made inexpensively enough to be covered by what the likely insurance reimbursement will be for the test.”

Federal government grants have enabled Chang and his team to create prototypes for many of the devices that QT hopes to take to market. Chang himself does not have engineering training, but over the years has assembled a brain trust of device engineers who turn his ideas into reality. He said working at LA BioMed has provided him with the time and resources to work on these projects in between his work overseeing residents at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center on the same campus. The institute provided expertise in getting grants and collegial support.

“They give me so much flexibility and support in being inventive in my research,” he said. “It’s the reason I’m still working here.”

– Deborah Crowe

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