BHI and Ahead are collaborating to accelerate commercialization of Symcat, Ahead Research’s patient/healthcare provider matchmaking app
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, Dec. 19, 2012 - BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) announced today that its newest client, Ahead Research, Inc. (Ahead), received the first Cigna Innovation Health Challenge award at the 2012 mHealth summit. BHI and Ahead recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly accelerate the commercialization of Symcat, Ahead’s web and mobile application whose module was the basis for the Cigna award.
“Ahead Research – with its Symcat app – is the type of entrepreneurial start-up company that BioHealth Innovation seeks to foster as part of its mission to drive the commercialization of market-relevant biohealth innovations,” said BioHealth Innovation’s President & CEO Richard Bendis.
“Not only have Ahead Research and Symcat been recognized by Cigna, but Ahead also was the recipient of a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation earlier this year. Symcat clearly offers a unique approach to mobile health that will advance the quality of care for patients,” he added.
During the mHealth Summit, which was held December 3-5, 2012, in Washington, DC, Cigna challenged startups to build products that will significantly impact how people make health choices, using data from Cigna. Ahead Research won the challenge for a module within the Symcat online interface that lets users enter their health symptoms and the medications they are taking to learn if their medication is a known cause of their symptoms.
“Recognition as the Cigna Innovation Challenge winner reinforces that Ahead Research can engage both consumers and health payers through our novel solutions. We’re pleased it offers the opportunity for us to align with a key health stakeholder like Cigna to make healthcare safer, more convenient, and more affordable for patients,” said Ahead Research, Inc. Chief Executive Officer and Symcat Co-creator Craig Monsen, a Johns Hopkins University medical student. “We look forward to building on this success through our newly established relationship with BioHealth Innovation, Inc., which has a proven track record growing health technology companies in the Mid-Atlantic region."
About Ahead Research, Inc. and Symcat
Ahead Research Inc. is the developer of Symcat. With Symcat, expertise in medicine, data analysis, and web development is combined to create tools that help people make the best decisions about their health. At our core, Symcat developers believe that people given access to information the right way will make good decisions. Symcat provides people user-friendly tools built on sophisticated machine-learning algorithms, “big data” analysis, and the cutting-edge of interface design. More information is available at http://blog.symcat.com/.
About BioHealth Innovation, Inc.
BioHealth Innovation, Inc., is a regional innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant bio-health innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland. Learn more at www.biohealthinnovation.org.