Building Better Futures for Health Series IDE Group

In this podcast episode, Eudaemon's co-founders, Rob Gorkin and Simon Cook, discuss their journey from academia to entrepreneurship and their challenges in bringing their next-generation hydrogel condom to market. The conversation covers topics such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's call for a better feeling condom, the unique challenges of building a Medtech business, and disrupting the 100-year-old industry of latex condoms.

You will also learn about the importance of a multi-disciplinary approach, a no-assholes policy, and professional advice from serial entrepreneurs for others considering entrepreneurship.

About Eudaemon Technologies

Eudaemon is a company focused on providing superior Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) products. Their flagship project, Geldom, aims to produce a condom made from innovative tough hydrogels, which will revolutionise the safe sex industry by providing enhanced feel and lubrication, no adverse odours or tastes, no allergic reactions, and an unprecedented ability to customise sensual experiences. With the aim is to disrupt the $28B contraceptive market, $13B fertility market, and $100B+ STD diagnosis and treatment markets.

Their mission is to provide superior SRH products to every person for every situation. They are bridging internal and partner-based next-gen capabilities in Advanced Manufacturing, Material Science, and Human Centred Design to benefit consumers, manufacturers, brands, and health agencies.

Eudaemon has recently received $4 million in funding from the NSW Medical Devices Fund (MDF) and $1.5 million from the Australian Government’s Clinical Translation and Commercialisation Medtech (CTCM) program, delivered by MTPConnect, to advance the clinical trial of their next-generation hydrogel condom project.

About Dr Robert Gorkin

Rob Gorkin is a biomedical engineer and serial entrepreneur who is passionate about bringing innovative concepts to commercial reality at the intersection of Industry 4.0 and social good. He is currently the CEO and Co-Founder of Eudaemon Technologies. Rob is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Wollongong's SMART Infrastructure Facility in Australia. He holds a PhD and a MS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine, as well as an MBA from the University of Wollongong's Sydney Business School.

About Dr Simon Cook

Simon Cook is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Eudaemon Technologies. He holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Wollongong and has previously worked as an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at Swinburne University of Technology and as a Visiting Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Kinsey Institute in the USA as a Fulbright Future Scholar. With his expertise in science and technology, Simon plays a key role in developing and implementing Eudaemon's platform technologies, including producing next-generation hydrogel condoms.

 

Chapters

0:00 Intro Eudaemon

1:28 Intro Rob Gorkin & Simon Cook

2:45 Serendipity & becoming a co-founder (Simon’s background)

6:00 Rob’s journey from academia to entrepreneurship

08:53 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation & the call for a better feeling condom

11:47 BBFH Challenge, Funding and the gap to commercialisation

15:35 The complexity of brining a condom to market

17:40 Skin-like feeling condoms thanks to hydrogels

20:05 The start of Eudaemon

22:07 The risks&struggle as a founder in academia

24:16 The importance of family&friends

25:39 Nick Northcott, third co-founder

26:28 Why the switch into entrepreneurship is hard but rewarding

29:55 Academia can be tough for founders

32:48 The birth of Eudaemon and the next-generation condom

36:58 Unique challenges building a Medtech business

41:41 Disrupting a 100-year old industry

45:08 Challenging each other is progress

46:43 Multi-disciplinary approach

48:36  Importance of a no-assholes-policy

49:53 Advice for others thinking about going into entrepreneurs

In this episode, our host, Richard Sokolov, speaks with Morgan James, Manufacturing Director at IDE.

Richard and Morgan discuss the government’s plan to reboot Australian manufacturing, Morgan’s journey through the Medtech world, Kissick’s Iron Triangle of Healthcare and more

Links and Chapters/Timestamps below.

About Manufacturing at IDE

IDE has production facilities and fully equipped QA laboratories in Sydney (Australia) and Philadelphia (USA) that enable our team to develop and manage production automation and perform final assembly, testing, verification, and validation of various devices.

IDE’s presence in Rotterdam (Netherlands), Shenzhen and Ningbo (China) allow to audit, qualify and manage suppliers throughout Europe and China, coordinated by our Chinese-proficient technical experts in Australia.

The scale of operations has created a global network of approved suppliers, including high-tech and low-cost providers. With this worldwide network, IDE is able to optimise supply chains and find the right process specialists to get the best outcome for their clients.

IDE’s Manufacturing team combines the expertise of process integrators to create supply chains and operations, and specialists to implement processes such as injection moulding, automated assembly and sterilisation to meet your business needs.

About the BBFH Series

The Building Better Futures for Health (BBFH) Series is a series of interviews with Founders, Professors, Executives, and other leaders of the Australian start-up community. Together with our guests, we explore and analyse the drivers and challenges of the healthcare start-up community in Australia and discuss their unique journeys and stories.

All Podcast Episodes and Platforms: https://www.idegroup.com.au/videos-podcasts

IDE Manufacturing: https://www.idegroup.com.au/manufacturing

BBFH Challenge: https://www.bbfhchallenge.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ide-/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ide_group

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IDEGroupAU/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ide.group/

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

0:46 Importance of Manufacturing

2:17 Having a good plan executed today is better than having the perfect plan executed

3:51 Mission-led journey in Medtech of Morgan

5:58 From Large Multinational to Startup to being acquired

8:55 Entrepreneurial Manufacturing

12:30 The Manufacturing elements of a Medtech venture trying to get out the door 

14:30 Parameters in Manufacturing & the advantage of an outsiders perspective 

18:08 Manufacturing Renaissance in Australia &Government Funding

21:29 The Healthcare Dilemma: The Iron Triangle of Cost, Quality and Access

23:00 Outlook on Manufacturing at IDE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our host, Richard Sokolov, Executive Director and Co-founder of IDE Group, speaks with Sam van Bohemen, Co-founder and CEO of Nuroflux. 

Richard and Sam discuss how Nuroflux is trying to solve the $6 Billion problem with a novel approach, why technology isn’t everything, and what you need as a founder for a successful commercial outcome.

About Sam van Bohemen and NurofluxThere is a stroke every 19 minutes in Australia, and the associated costs are $6 billion annually just for Australians. Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Unfortunately, current standard care relies upon subjective observations, and CT perfusion scans do not provide continuous monitoring. However, for an oxygen-starved brain, every second counts.

That is why Sam, founder and CEO of Nuroflux, wants to revolutionise stroke patient care with the first-ever device for continuous, long-term monitoring of brain activity and blood flow in the brain. 

Their solution is a wearable device for real-time monitoring of patients with acute ischaemic stroke. It provides continuous monitoring of blood flow and electrical activity in the brain to allow rapid detection and treatment of complications to improve outcomes and reduce the need for repeat CT scans to lower the radiation risk and financial costs.

Nuroflux was born out of seeing how blind the situation can be around stroke and engineers teaming up with clinicians and commercialisation experts to define, discover and deliver.

Nuroflux is the winner of the BBFH challenge 2021 taking home $25,000 of development and commercialisation support from IDE. They recently formed a strategic partnership with The George Institute for Global Health. 

About the BBFH SeriesThe Building Better Futures for Health (BBFH) Series is a series of interviews with Founders, Professors, Executives, and other leaders of the Australian start-up community. Together with our guests, we explore and analyse the drivers and challenges of the healthcare start-up community in Australia and discuss their unique journeys and stories. 

Chapters/Timestamps 0:00 Introduction1:04 Background of Sam2:32 Why Stroke Care and the jump to commercialisation4:45 Trying to solve the $6 Billion Dollar problem with a novel approach7:02 The journey of Nuroflux from Health 10x to pre-seed funding9:09 Winning the BBFH Challenge10:20 Next stage of developing the product11:18 Takeaways from BBFH for a start-up12:45 What you need as a Medtech founder for a successful commercial outcome16:23 Why technology isn’t everything17:50 The goal of improving stroke patient outcome

Website IDE:  https://www.idegroup.com.au/videos-podcasts

Website Nuroflux: https://nuroflux.com/

Website BBFH Challenge: https://www.bbfhchallenge.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ide-/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ide_group  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IDEGroupAU/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ide.group/  

#startups #podcast #bbfh #entrepreneurship #innovationinhealthcare #strokecare #stroke #medtech
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Our host, Richard Sokolov, Executive Director and co-founder of IDE Group, speaks with Dr Alan Taylor, Executive Chairman of Clarity Pharmaceuticals.

About the Episode

Richard and Alan discuss advice on capital raising, the importance of having skin in the game, why intellectual property is so important in life sciences, how Clarity went from two provisional patents to biggest IPO on the ASX, and many more topics.

About Dr Alan Taylor and Clarity Pharmaceuticals

Alan is an expert on capital raising with 15 years of investment banking experience. Before joining Clarity, he was an Executive Director and shareholder of Inteq Limited, a boutique Australian investment bank. Alan has significant experience in capital raisings and mergers&acquisitions and has been involved in approximately $2 billion worth of transactions.

He joined Clarity when there was only a single founder and two provisional patents in 2013 and has recently led the Company through the largest ever biotechnology IPO on the Australian Securities Exchange, raising $92 million at a capitalisation of $358 million. Since joining Clarity, Alan has led over $140 million of capital raisings for the company.

Clarity is focused on theranostics, a field that combines therapy and diagnostics. It is developing Targeted Copper Theranostic (TCT) products, which allow copper isotopes to be used in the diagnosis and treatment of a range of cancers, including prostate and breast cancers, as well as rare and orphan cancer indications such as neuroblastoma - a childhood cancer that begins most often in the nerve cells outside of brain of infants and children younger than 5 years old.

About the BBFH Series

The BBFH series is a series of interviews with Founders, Professors, Executives, and other leaders of the Australian startup community. Together with our guests, we explore and analyse the drivers and challenges of the healthcare startup community here in Australia and discuss their unique journeys and stories.

Chapters/Timestamps

0:00 Introduction

0:58 Clarity Pharmaceuticals’ story

3:06 Alan’s story at Clarity

5:38 Skin in the game as a leader

7:33 Why purpose is important

10:30 Alan’s story and why losing is important

20:25 Why Intellectual Property in Medtech/LifeSciences is important

24:45 Patent/IP lifespan and strategy

28:05 Enthusiasm and challenging each other

30:10 Advice on Capital Raising

34:00 Bringing your shareholders along

35:50 The Dark Side and trying to find the right people to hang out with

37:50 BBFH, sharing knowledge and the Australian startup community

40:34 Why startups are incredible hard

41:30 Progress during difficult times  

44:55 How the adoption of science inspires future generations

 

Links

Website:  https://www.idegroup.com.au/videos-podcasts

Website BBFH Challenge: https://www.bbfhchallenge.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ide-/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ide_group  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IDEGroupAU/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ide.group/  
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our host, Richard Sokolov, Executive Director and co-founder of IDE Group, speaks with Anne O'Neill, Director for Enterprise and International Partnerships at the Office for Health and Medical Research (OHMR) at New South Wales (NSW) Health.

Richard and Anne discuss her role, reflections on the past two years, her passion for translating research into real-world outcomes, the NSW Health Medical Devices Fund and her hopes for 2022. They also talk about Anne's passion for health and medical research that guides her on her mission to add value to the medical research community in NSW.

About the BBFH Series

The Building Better Futures for Health (BBFH) Series is a series of interviews with founders, professors, executives, and other leaders of the Australian startup community. Together with our guests, we explore and analyse the drivers and challenges of the healthcare startup community in Australia and talk about their unique journeys and stories.

Website: https://www.idegroup.com.au/videos-podcasts

Website BBFH Challenge: https://www.bbfhchallenge.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ide-/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ide_group

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IDEGroupAU/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ide.group/  

 

Chapters/Timestamps

0:00 Intro

1:11 Anne's role at NSW Health and how the pandemic affected it

4:57 What companies should realise dealing with NSW Health

8:55 How things have changed for NSW Health

11:40 Anne's passion for medical research

15:15 The vision for the NSW Medical Devices Fund

19:10 Success stories of the NSW Medical Devices Fund

21:55 The BBFH Challenge and why critical feedback is important

23:55 Why honest feedback and persistence is critical for founders

26:10 Hopes and Outlook
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Our host, Richard Sokolov, Executive Director and co-founder of IDE Group, speaks with Prof Stephanie Watson, known for her ground-breaking research in corneal therapies with over 200 publications and international patents.

Prof Watson is a Professor at the Save Sight Institute at The University of Sydney, Head of the Corneal Unit at Sydney Eye Hospital and former winner of IDE’s BBFH Challenge

Richard and Stephanie talk about her mission to eliminate corneal blindness, the mission of her startup Ocurep to make it easy to close eye wounds, the three biggest learnings along that journey and why technology is about connecting with people.

About the BBFH Series

The Building Better Futures for Health (BBFH) Series is a series of interviews with founders, professors, executives, and other leaders of the Australian startup community. Together with our guests, we explore and analyse the drivers and challenges of the healthcare startup community in Australia and talk about their unique journeys and stories.

Website: https://www.idegroup.com.au/videos-podcasts

Website BBFH Challenge: https://www.bbfhchallenge.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ide-/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ide_group

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IDEGroupAU/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ide.group/  

Timestamps/Chapters

00:00 Intro

00:27 Prof Watson's background

02:30 Prof Watson's mission against corneal blindness

04:00 Ocurep's solution to seal the cornea without stitches to restore vision

05:01 Ocurep and the BBFH Challenge

06:20 Journey of Ocurep and major challenges

07:30 Ocurep's mission to make it easy to close eye wounds

09:20 How the BBFH Challenge helped Ocurep

10:12 Technology is about people and connecting with them

11:45 Biggest three learnings for other entrepreneurs and researchers

13:35 How did COVID affect Healthcare

15:15 The hope to eliminate corneal blindness

16:05 Advice for applicants of the BBFH Challenge
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.