Inside Indiana Business on DigiBio's Recent Success

February 01, 2019

Digital technology is defining the future for Indiana’s life science companies, say local leaders. The state’s life sciences initiative BioCrossroads is fanning the flame of entrepreneurs dreaming up the digital health solutions of tomorrow. The organization recently launched the Inject Tech Challenge, a digital health competition to award a $10,000 top prize each year and, more importantly, boost the tech innovations that life sciences companies are clamoring for.

“Digital technology is in everything [Indiana] life sciences companies are doing; it’s in the data they’re bringing to their research and the way they see a lot of strategic collaborations going forward,” says BioCrossroads President and Chief Executive Officer David Johnson. “We think it’s important to drive more thought and attention to the entrepreneurial side of that—particularly in a community as strong as ours is in the tech innovation area.”

Indianapolis-based DigiBiomarkers, won second place for its technology that captures information directly from patients in clinical trials. DigiBiomarkers founder Bharath Bynagari says current methods of collecting data from patients are subjective, inefficient and time-consuming. The startup has created a cloud-based platform that collects patient data simultaneously from multiple sources, including the patient’s smartphone, connected device (such as an activity tracker) and web applications. In addition to cutting costs and collecting patient data in real-time, DigiBiomarkers says patients become more engaged and more likely to stick to the study’s protocol.

“We’re going to select 10 clinical trials within the Indiana University Health system, so they can use our platform,” says Bynagari. “We’re going to use those 10 cases to test our platform, make sure it works and then we can go to market saying we tested in 10 different trials.”

BioCrossroads hopes the competition not only helps young tech ventures advance their innovations, but sparks connections with legacy life sciences companies in Indiana.

“Large companies that are trying to explore platforms in [digital health] are very interested in smaller company partners,” says Johnson. “They’re not necessarily looking to partner with Amazon or Google; they really are looking for entrepreneurial solutions and trying to ‘live off the land’ of the environment they’re in. This competition gives us an opportunity to show our big life sciences companies that there’s an entrepreneurial energy and really good future here.”

Indianapolis-based Regenstrief Institute won the competition with its digital tool that predicts the level of risk a patient faces within the social determinants of health. Full article: http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/story/39391207/first-inject-tech-challenge-crowns-winners