Roundtable: Tech ecosystem Josh Arant, COO, MAKO Medical Jerry Lepore, CEO, MobileSmith Health

®oundtable:

Tech ecosystem

Industry insiders provide a look at how innovative companies are leveraging the local life sciences and tech ecosystem.

Josh Arant

COO MAKO Medical

What role is the lab sector playing in the vaccination process? As long as this virus continues to mutate and continues to create different variants, there will always be the need for a diagnostic component. Flu testing is a testament to that. We’ve had a flu vaccine for a while now but we continue to test during flu season. We believe COVID-19 will be quite similar to how the flu is today, where you still need to test for it to ensure the appropriate diagnosis is made. Hopefully, it’s not going to be at the mass scale it is now, where there are community drive-through events and massive outbreak testing, which we pray will be limited by vaccination. There is, however, an imperative for some surveillance testing with the variants if the virus continues to mutate.

What does the move from lab operations to a fullservice healthcare facility look like for MAKO Medical? The laboratory was the biggest opportunity to make the most impact within healthcare. Eighty percent of doctors’ decisions are lab results-based. We feel we have been able to create some success within the lab industry, somewhat disrupting it. What we really want to do is take those same principles, that same approach, and infuse it into pharmacy, technology and other ancillary healthcare services that need to be disrupted so the patient gets the most value out of their care. We believe technology is a big opportunity with so many silos within the healthcare industry. One of the blessings that will come out of COVID is the adoption of technology. Whether it is telemedicine or just the integrations, that will help accelerate the value of healthcare tremendously.

Jerry Lepore

CEO MobileSmith Health

What role does MobileSmith Health play in RaleighDurham’s healthcare sector? MobileSmith Health builds mobile applications for the healthcare industry. Initially, if a hospital system or a corporation determined a need for a communicative or educational application, MobileSmith Health had the capacity and experience to build and tailor to their needs. In 2020, we began to transform ourselves into a company that builds the technology ecosystem for delivering integrated remote and mobile healthcare applications. It was a big step for us, which brought about several positive outcomes. There have been a lot of good things developing over several years relating to research, including medical, drug or treatment research, parallel to improvements in medical devices and add-ons. Yet, for all those improvements, there has not been a lot of headway made in patient engagement and patient adherence with their healthcare. Our technology ecosystem enables patients to engage as a part of their care journey and create true shared decision-making with their healthcare providers regarding their care.

What are the advantages of operating a life sciences company within the Triangle area? Everything goes back to talent. There is a great foundation there because of the educational and health systems that are in place in the area. The good news about the medical technology sector is that our educational systems also have great affiliated hospital systems. Not only is the Triangle region ideally suited for education, our institutions are well known for the fields of technology and healthcare. We’re keeping that talent and we are attracting attention. What has been your company’s contribution to the management of the pandemic? We provide UV-C disinfection services for high-touch devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops. The idea for our company came along in late 2018 in response to K-12 school directors telling me there was a high degree of absenteeism and that devices were being returned in less-than-optimal condition. The idea was to eliminate absenteeism not only for students but also for teachers, who are also prone to getting sick due to the spread of bacteria. COVID created a lot of delays in developing our product because the infrastructure and certifications were in such high demand.

While communities consider how to safely reopen K-12 schools, many educators and parents are paying attention to recent guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including those on cleaning and disinfection. One area of concern is shared high-touch items. INVZBL helps schools safely re-open. We now have cabinets deployed at Forsyth Country Day School and Atrium Health facilities.

Which industries are demanding your solution? There is big demand in warehousing and logistics, as well as retail. One of the bigger home improvement stores wants to use our service to disinfect their inventory guns. Employees carry a lot of high-touch items on them, including box cutters, ID badges or radios. These must be disinfected when shifts change. These companies are all trying to iron out policies and procedures. Another industry is hospitality, and another is repair for automobiles, where mechanics are sharing tools.

Chuck Morrison

Founder & CEO INVZBL