Lawrence Regional Technology Center

Startup KC BioMediX feeds off baby research developed at KU
By Debra DeCoster

Friday, December 15, 2006

Two Lenexa entrepreneurs are leading a startup that will market University of Kansas research aimed at helping premature babies learn to eat.

Michael Litscher is president of KC BioMediX Inc., and David Stalling is secretary and treasurer. Both are experienced in managing research-based technology startups.

KC BioMediX is the first medical device company to spin off from research at the University of Kansas' Lawrence campus.

Steve Barlow, professor of speech-language-hearing and director of University of Kansas Communication Neuroscience Laboratories, and Don Finan of the University of Colorado developed two medical devices, aided by a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Patents are pending for the N-Trainer and the Actifier, which employ an electronic pacifier to assess and then improve a newborn's essential motor skills, such as sucking, swallowing and breathing.

Litscher and Stalling said they are excited about the new technology and are dedicated to getting prototypes produced so that they can get them into hospitals by 2007 for clinical trials. KC BioMediX, which is at the Lawrence Regional Technology Center, hopes to have the system ready to sell by the end of 2008.

"It has become one of those situations where you have to get it out there," Litscher said. "Time doesn't stand still for these premature babies. If you have a device that will help one, two or three babies lead a more normal life, then you ought to hurry up and get it done. We are very anxious and excited about getting it done."

Barlow has studied premature babies the past 15 years. He found that when premature babies are put on life-support systems in the neonatal unit, they lose the ability to suck and feed orally.

During Barlow's research, he found that some of these children struggle with feeding issues well into their preschool years. Development of the Actifier and the N-Trainer will speed up the process at an important stage in the baby's development.

The Actifier is a diagnostic tool that tests a baby's ability to suck. The N-Trainer is a silicone pacifier attached to a computer-controlled sensor and a special motor. The device delivers a pattern of vibrations that mimics sucking. Both devices provide a high-tech assessment of the baby while teaching him or her a normal pattern of sucking behavior, allowing the baby to feed naturally.

Doctors who have seen the electronic pacifier say that 50 percent of the babies in the neonatal unit would benefit from the device.

Each year, 500,000 babies are born prematurely in the United States. Premature births have risen from 8 percent to 12 percent. If the N-Trainer is used in the neonatal units throughout the United States, there is the possibility of affecting 250,000 babies.

A study in 2005 showed that $26 billion was spent to treat preemies in and out of the hospital. The average hospital stay for a premature baby is 24 days, versus two days for a full-term baby.

"There are babies that are sent home with the feeding tube, and if they don't develop the ability to feed, they essentially struggle with the whole development process," Stalling said.

Delays in learning how to feed orally have been linked to problems in developing motor skills and learning words and language.

The N-Trainer is being tested in the neonatal unit at Stormont-Vail hospital in Topeka. Next year, it will be used at Overland Park Regional Medical Center.

Besides helping premature babies, the N-Trainer may offer other benefits to the medical community. The electronic pacifier may help children and adults with brain injuries and patients who recover from a coma or stroke and need to learn how to feed and speak again.

"When people have strokes, it becomes a challenge for them to learn to feed and speak," Litscher said. "It seems apparent that this sucking behavior is a way to overcome developmental disabilities."