Developing a Clinically Useful Pain Assessment Tool : 37

Transforming Chronic Pain Treatment with a Lean, Data-focused Development Strategy

Based in Washington, DC, AlgometRx has developed a technology platform that will let clinicians perform objective pain assessments to improve treatments for chronic pain.

In Episode 37 of the MedTech Speed to Data Podcast, Key Tech’s Andy Rogers and AlgometRx Chief Operating Officer Kevin Jackson discuss how collecting the right data sped the Nociometer platform’s development.

Need to know

Pain diagnosis is challenging — Patients self-report their experience, which is inherently subjective and variable.

Pain treatment involves trial and error — Finding the right treatment plan often requires a months-long iterative process.

Risks of inappropriate drug treatments increase — Poor understanding of pain’s causes leads to the over-prescription of the wrong drugs, a contributing factor to the opiate crisis.

The nitty-gritty

AlgometRx’s technology platform emerged from research by the company’s founder, Dr. Julia Finkel at Children’s National Hospital. A pediatric anesthesiologist, Dr. Finkel must assess pain in children who lack the words to describe their experiences.

“She wanted something that she could use in clinic to help better understand patients’ pain,” Jackson explains. “Something that’s simple enough that anyone could use in a variety of settings.”

The Nociometer platform selectively activates nerve fibers and evaluates the patient’s physical response — without causing additional pain.

“We’re able to identify the physiologic underpinnings of that pain experience, and that allows clinicians to better understand what’s happening.”

An objective assessment of the patient’s pain lets the clinician make faster, better-informed decisions, but the real value will come from monitoring treatments. Rather than waiting three months to see if a treatment works, patients can return to the clinic a week later for a follow-up measurement. “That gives the clinician different information they wouldn’t have had, Jackson says. “We can get right to the root of it, and you avoid six, seven, eight visits.”

Data that made the difference:

AlgometRx discussed this first-of-its-kind technology with the FDA before developing its proof-of-concept prototype. “We had this novel concept of a pain biomarker and device, so we wanted to know how we would even bring a device like this [to market].” FDA feedback informed a development strategy focused on gathering data from specific populations.

AlgometRx leveraged partnerships to support this focused strategy. Working with Johns Hopkins researchers under an NIH Sprint for Women’s Health grant, AlgometRx is developing pain response data sets for patients with systemic lupus and carpal tunnel syndrome. The startup is also a member of JLABS, Johnson & Johnson Innovation’s life sciences incubator, where they get valuable insight into the Nociometer platform’s potential role in pharmaceutical research.

Running a lean operation lets AlgometRx prioritize data. Jackson is the startup’s only full-time paid employee. Dr. Finkel, AlgometRx’s board, and a network of consultants and contractors bring their expertise as needed. “We don’t have a robust employee base, but we have a robust team,” Jackson says. “We’ve run this lean approach where we only bring in people as needed. Obviously, our investors love that idea because it’s spending money on device development and data generation.”