A Patient-First Mentality: Meet Smart Bridge Medical

Patients on long-term ventilator support need care 24/7 to ensure they do not experience “pop-off,” which is the clinical term for an accidental ventilator disconnection from a tracheostomy tube. If the tube disconnects for more than three minutes, a patient can die or suffer permanent lung or brain damage. 

This common and dangerous problem is the reason President Kay Fuller and Lyne Charron-Keller co-founded Smart Bridge Medical. The company aims to solve dangerous and overlooked unmet clinical needs, starting with their patented POPSafe™ respiratory device solutions. This female-founded healthcare company is working hard to develop and produce medical devices to improve the lives of patients and clinicians with a go-to-market goal of late 2023 for their lead POPSafe™ Tracheostomy Tube Sets. To get there, Smart Bridge Medical’s experienced team continues their product development and seed round fundraising efforts.  

Taking a step in the right direction, Smart Bridge Medical joined the Conquer Accelerator Grand Rapids program in the fall of 2021. The program, which is hosted by Spartan Innovations provides selected startup teams with a $20,000 investment from Red Cedar Ventures and 10 weeks of intensive programming including tailored and goal-driven benchmarks. The teams work with instructors and mentors on topics like defining market segments, minimum viable product development, fundraising, achieving traction. Spartan Innovations is a part of the Michigan State University Foundation’s family of subsidiaries.  

“The Conquer Accelerator program is fantastic, and we couldn’t have asked for a better experience,” said Fuller. “The Conquer team helped us refine our business pitch and connect us with their ecosystem in the West Michigan area. As we look for additional fundraising opportunities, these relationships have been and will continue to be immensely valuable towards our success.” 

The majority of the company’s pre-seed funds have been allocated for prototype device development and intellectual property filings. In July 2022, Smart Bridge Medical received its third issued patent, which expands their POPSafe™ product portfolio to also address endotracheal tube “pop-off” events.  

“There is a real need for this technology, and Smart Bridge Medical is working to make it available for all,” said Jeff Wesley, executive director at Spartan Innovations. “One of the key things we do when looking to bring startups into Conquer Accelerator is determine whether they have innovative technology. Smart Bridge Medical checked every box, and its products will ultimately change the lives of patients needing long-term ventilation.”  

The Smart Bridge Medical team brings a collective 100+ years of medical device industry experience and looks forward to launching their first POPSafe™ product, next year. To prepare for launch the company continues their fundraising activities to support further product development activities to meet FDA requirements.  

As a part of these activities, Smart Bridge Medical was recently awarded a grant investment from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) Business Accelerator Fund (BAF), which has allowed Smart Bridge Medical to engage a Grand Rapids qualified service provider, MediSurge, to help them further refine the product design and manufacture enough POPSafe™ units for FDA required performance testing.  

“Smart Bridge Medical is the perfect candidate for the Business Accelerator Fund,” said Janet Wyllie, director of Gateway Grand Rapids. “Not only is it an innovative device, but they have really shown the need for something like this. Its importance was magnified when the number of COVID-19 patients on ventilators experienced “pop-off” and overwhelmed hospital ICU staffs.” 

Bob Taylor, CEO of MediSurge and Alliant Healthcare further stated “we are thrilled about our partnership with Smart Bridge Medical. Our collective organizations have extensive knowledge and experience in developing, manufacturing and marketing medical devices and are dedicated to bringing POPSafe™ to market. This device can be lifesaving and will help nursing staffs that constantly deal with disconnected tracheostomy tubes. This will be beneficial specifically in VA hospitals, which is part of our core mission at Alliant as we are a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)”.  

Fuller says the U.S. market for the POPSafe™ Tracheostomy Tubes is over $1.2 billion and that through the support from the Michigan State University Research Foundation, their brand has ramped up and grown awareness of this pressing medical need.  

“I would recommend all startups apply for Conquer Accelerator,” said Fuller. “Just filling out the application is a great exercise that can teach entrepreneurs more about themselves and their company. The meetings with other startups and the Spartan Innovations team, and the networking opportunities have been invaluable. We felt supported while participating in the program and continue to leverage their support almost a year later.” 

To learn more about Smart Bridge Medical, please visit: smartbridgemed.com. 

To learn more about the Michigan State University Research Foundation and Spartan Innovations, please visit: msufoundation.org.