Fighting depression with medical devices: A podcast with Tal Medical’s Jan Skvarka

Tal Medical‘s roots go back to a serendipitous discovery at McLean Hospital more than a decade ago, when researchers working on bi-polar disorder reported that patients said they felt better after receiving an MRI.

As it often does in medtech, that initial moment of discovery paved the way for years of development, eventually leading to the launch of Tal Medical. TheBoston-based company, which recently closed a $14 million Series B round, has its low-field magnetic stimulation technology in clinical trials as a non-invasive neurostimulation treatment for depression and bipolar disorder.

President & CEO Jan Skvarka, the company’s 1st full-time chief executive, told MassDevice.com that the clinical-stage company is hoping to be 1 of the 1st to explore a potential new vertical for medtech: Psychiatry.

“When I think of the medical device space, I think that there’s all these verticals – cardiology, $45 billion, orthopedics, $40 billion, imaging, urology and so on,” Skvarka told us. “We’re asking the question, ‘Is there a future in the medical device world where there is a vertical for psychiatry that is several billion dollars?’ We’re at the beginning of that vertical.”

If the early data proves out, Tal Medical plans to go to a pivotal trial, possibly as soon as 2017, he said.

Skvarka recently sat down with MassDevice publisher Brian Johnson at our annual DeviceTalks Boston event to discuss the journey behind Tal Medical and how he sees medical devices fit into the spectrum of care for depression.

 

Subscribe to our DeviceTalks podcast series on iTunes or Soundcloud.

The post Fighting depression with medical devices: A podcast with Tal Medical’s Jan Skvarka appeared first on MassDevice.

from MassDevice http://ift.tt/1Vl4gXt