Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • November 12, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Reporter's Notebook Matt Pilon | mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com Health Care/Bioscience, Startups & Entrepreneurs, Government/Law and Energy BIOTECH Farmington startup Cytoveris probes optical sensing for cancer surgery A serial Connecticut entre- preneur recently raised $3.7 million to help his latest startup, Farmginton-based Cytoveris, develop an imaging tool that assists surgeons in removing cancer tissue with greater precision. The early stage company is the brain- child of venture investor and scientist Alan Kersey, who is also currently chair- man of West Hartford-based ReadyDock, which makes UV-based disinfection systems for cell phones and other ap- plications in hospital settings. The point of Cytoveris' technology is to help doctors remove all cancer cells during surgery, while leaving intact as much normal tissue as possible, creat- ing so-called "clean margins" that are particularly important for breast can- cer patients — the startup's targeted market at the outset. Cytoveris is developing several optical-sensing methods, including a form of spectroscopy, that can scan just a few cells at a time. So-called Raman spectroscopy, which has been around for decades and is increasingly being tapped for various commercial applications, uses a laser beam to detect molecular dif- ferences in tissue. One advantage of Raman, Kersey said, is it can distinguish both surface tissue as well as tissue several milli- meters deep. "They want to conserve the normal tissue, but remove the lump and ensure there is a clean margin around the lump with healthy, nor- mal tissue," Kersey said. "They don't want to cut too much out." Kersey said he's hoping to "build a better mouse- trap" to compete with existing surgeon tools, which he said aren't as effective in probing deep tissue. Kersey said demand for the technol- ogy he envisions could be significant. There are approximately 266,000 breast-cancer diagnoses in the U.S. each year. However, about one in four breast- cancer patients have multiple surgeries because the surgeon isn't able to extract all the cancer cells on the first try, ac- cording to BreastCancer.org. That can be traumatic and costly for the patient. Problem-solver Kersey has significant Connecti- cut business history. In 1997, he was founding chief technology officer of Wallingford-based CiDRA, which makes process-optimization technology. He later became CEO of a CiDRA genetics and laboratory analytics spinout that was acquired by Illumina in 2005. "I've been involved in multiple start- ups," Kersey said. "I like to go around, talk to a lot of people and understand what the real problem is and look for technol- ogy solutions that can solve them." Kersey is also an investor. He and his partners lead Cycle Venture Partners, whose portfolio includes Cytoveris and New Haven's Cybrexa Therapeutics. Kersey said he hopes Cytoveris, which has optioned a license for Raman-based intellectual property developed by a Vanderbilt University professor, can build a prototype device sometime next year. The device would first be tested on excised tumors, with the hope of eventu- ally getting Food & Drug Administration approval for human trials. Cytoveris is planning to work with oncologists and pathologists at both UConn Health and Yale New Haven Health to further develop and test the device, he said. HEALTH CARE Study: Greater Hartford healthcare prices on par with national average T he Northeast is known as a high-cost healthcare region, so it may surprise some to learn that Hartford metro area healthcare prices are exactly on par with the national average. That's according to a new analysis by the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI), which used an expansive data set of 1.78 billion claims shared with it by Aetna, Humana and United Healthcare, to analyze healthcare bill- ings in 112 metro areas. The analysis is specific to patients with employer-sponsored health insur- ance, and doesn't include Medicare, Medicaid or self-insured plans. The Washington, D.C.-based not-for- profit analyzed prices for hundreds of common billing codes that accounted for more than 60 percent of spending and around 80 percent of services in the U.S., and compared individual metro ar- eas to nationwide averages. The report does not disclose actual prices for the many services analyzed, but compares metros with each other and the national average. HCCI re- searchers found price variation across metro areas, includ- ing some in the same state. For example, while healthcare prices in the 54-town Hartford-East Hartford- West Hartford metro area — which includes Hartford Hospital, St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center and oth- ers — were found to be at the national average, the New Haven-Milford metro area, which includes Yale New Haven Hospital, was 7 percent above the national average. Meanwhile, prices in the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk metro area were 3 percent higher than average, according to HCCI. While average might sound pretty good, one piece of context is important to keep in mind, said Bill Johnson, a HCCI senior researcher. "2016 prices were dramatically higher almost across the board," com- pared to 2012, Johnson said. So while Hartford prices were at the national average, putting it on par with cities like Denver, Houston and Philadelphia, that national average rose significantly over the five-year period analyzed. In Hartford, prices rose 15 percent over five years, keeping pace with the national average. In New Haven, where prices in 2016 were more on par with Portland, Ore., and Charlotte, prices rose 17 percent over that period. The highest increase of any metro area over that period was New York City, at 22 percent. Cytoveris leaders (from left to right): Michael Sapack, vice president of engineering; Patrick Curry, chief operating officer/ vice president of finance; Alan Kersey, president and CEO. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Bill Johnson, Senior Researcher, Health Care Cost Institute HEALTH CARE Black and red margins Seven out of Connecticut's 16 healthcare systems posted positive operating margins in fiscal 2017, according to a new report by the Office of Health Strategy. Here's a look at how Greater Hartford health systems fared: Operating Health system margin Middlesex Health System Inc. 3.23% Hartford Healthcare Corp. 1.27% Trinity Health Of New England Inc. 1.26% CCMC Corp. -0.86% Prospect CT Inc. -1.34% Bristol Hospital & Healthcare Group Inc. -4.14% UConn Health -50.65% Statewide Average -1.74% Source: Office of Health Strategy

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