West Baltimore’s Previse scored a $1.8M NIH grant
Summary
A developer of diagnostic tests that grew out of its two founders crossing paths at Johns Hopkins University has earned nearly $2 million in grants to make its products more viable.Previse, a developer of diagnostic tests located within Sinai Hospital in West Baltimore, was recently awarded a $1.8 million Direct to Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).The federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program gives small businesses with fewer than 500 people the chance to nab up to $1 million in federal funding to commercialize their products.Founded in 2018 by Daniel Lunz and Stephen Meltzer, Previse is emerging as a name in medical diagnostic technology. I was also pursuing my MBA at the time I met Dr. Meltzer in a faculty meeting, and he shared about this technology he had founded that he believed could save lives.The recent SBIR funding will facilitate both an independent clinical validation process and a clinical utility study, which could provide insight into how doctors make use of Previses esophageal diagnostics-focused Esopredict product for patients. For the grant, Previse collaborated closely with cofounder and chief medical officer Meltzer, as well as his laboratory at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Barretts esophagus is a precursor of esophageal cancer, and Esopredict can make a significant contribution to providing personalized risk-stratification, identifying patients who are likely to progress to cancer while curative treatment options are still available, thus saving lives.Lunz, the companys CEO, noted in the interview that the SBIR and NIH also supported earlier work in Africa before this latest grant came.We began working with Dr. Meltzer when this company was conceived in late 2018. Our test can help inform physicians about which patients are likely to develop this cancer, enabling them to perform endoscopic treatmenta procedure that often cures the disease and prevents cancer.Previse notably secured $3 million in a seed round back in March.