Skip to content
i2E
  • Programs
    • E3
    • ACT Tulsa
    • Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup
    • OKBio
  • Client Portfolio
  • Services
    • Access to Funding
    • Venture Advisory Services
  • About
    • Our Values
    • Meet Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Corporate Partners
  • Contact
  • Media
Menu
  • Programs
    • E3
    • ACT Tulsa
    • Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup
    • OKBio
  • Client Portfolio
  • Services
    • Access to Funding
    • Venture Advisory Services
  • About
    • Our Values
    • Meet Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Corporate Partners
  • Contact
  • Media
Search

From i2E’s Scott Meacham: Former OU classmates combine to found medical device startup firm

Get in Touch

By Scott Meacham
Copyright © 2017, The Oklahoma Publishing Co.

It’s always interesting to me how frequently people on startup teams — whether co-founders or critical early hires — met in college or graduate school and how often the foundation for the startup evolved from those student years.

Simergent founder and CEO Steve Lindo and Chief Technology Officer Rick Pendergraft, Ph.D. met as engineering undergrads at OU. They have been friends for 20 years. The two also share an avocation — both are licensed private pilots.

Simergent is developing an affordable, home peritoneal dialysis device for emerging market countries including Mexico, India, and China.

“Around the world, 2.3 million people die each year because they can’t afford or access dialysis,” Lindo said. “That’s the equivalent of the city of Houston being wiped out every year.”

Lindo has worked in the field of medical devices for the last 12 years. After extensive experience in the kidney dialysis field at Baxter International, one of the world’s big two in hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, he founded his own medical device consulting practice. Pendergraft has been developing software for the last 16 years.

Pendergraft, who has deep experience developing products for regulated industries, is developing the software and circuit boards for the Simergent device. Lindo is designing the mechanical and disposable components. The system fills a gap in the currently available dialysis solutions by providing a much more affordable home peritoneal dialysis system.

Peritoneal dialysis removes waste products from the blood when a person’s kidneys can no longer do the job, but unlike hemodialysis, which is the blood-filtering process more commonly used in the U.S., patients do not have to go to a hospital or dialysis center for treatment, and there is no blood removal or needles involved.

Simergent has a fully functioning prototype. The Simergent solution consists of an electromechanical device, a disposable tubing set, and proprietary software that uniquely manages fluid delivery. The system pumps solution via sterile tubing into a surgically implanted port in the patient’s abdomen. The fluid filters out waste products and is cycled out of the body and discarded.

With easy-to-follow directions via a touch screen, Simergent makes it easy for the patient to follow and gives physicians confidence that patients can do the procedure themselves at home.

Lindo said that the system delivers the therapy that patients in these countries need without being over-designed.

“Hemodialysis is performed in a clinic three days a week,” Lindo said. “Peritoneal dialysis can be done at night while patients sleep. This allows patients to live normal lives without the constant interruption of daytime dialysis treatment.”

Startups with co-founders significantly increase the odds of startup success. They raise 30 percent more investment and grow customers three times as fast.

We like to see companies that have two-person startup teams — especially when, as with Simergent, skills are complementary and directly impactful to the solution and industry the company serves.

Scott Meacham is president and CEO of i2E Inc., a nonprofit corporation that mentors many of the state’s technology-based startup companies. i2E receives state support from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology and is an integral part of Oklahoma’s Innovation Model. Contact Meacham at i2E_Comments@i2E.org.

Read the article at newsok.com

 

Author

  • Sarah Graves Sarah Graves

More News

Loading...
woman in lab conducting a study
Blog, i2E
12.13.22

Bayesic Technologies Improves Effectiveness and Efficiency of Data Analysis in Healthcare

Read more
Bison grazing fields
Blog
11.30.22

Bison Underground Merges Nature, Science, and Technology to Tackle Climate Change

Read more
African American family sitting on couch reading and chatting
Blog, E3, i2E
11.22.22

Fokes Connects Families, Caregivers and Care Agencies for Smoother Communications and Care 

Read more
i2e blog post graphic
Blog, News
11.03.22

Introducing: Stories of Oklahoma Innovation

Read more
Default Featured Image
OKBio
06.28.22

Oklahoma Grown! i2E Invests in BIO startups

Read more
Default Featured Image
OKBio
06.13.22

Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation BIO

Read more
Default Featured Image
OKBio
06.13.22

Moleculera Labs BIO

Read more
Default Featured Image
OKBio
06.13.22

University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center BIO

Read more
Default Featured Image
OKBio
06.13.22

Oklahoma State University BIO

Read more
Default Featured Image
OKBio
06.13.22

ECHO Investment Capital BIO

Read more
Default Featured Image
OKBio
06.13.22

AscendBioVentures BIO

Read more
Default Featured Image
OKBio
06.13.22

Dean McGee Eye Institute BIO

Read more
i2E

Oklahoma City Office

840 Research Parkway, Suite 250
OKC, OK 73104
+1 (405) 235.2305

Tulsa Office

100 S. Cincinnati Ave – Suite 514
Tulsa, OK 74103
+1 (918) 582.5592

  • Client Portfolio
  • About Us
  • Media
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Resources

© 2022 i2E Privacy Policy

Follow us:

Facebook Twitter Linkedin

Programs

  • E3
  • ACT Tulsa
  • Love's Entrepreneur's Cup
  • OKBio
  • Client Portfolio

Services

  • Access to Funding
  • Venture Advisory Services
  • Contact
  • About
  • Our Values
  • Our Team
  • Board of Directors
  • Corporate Partners
  • Media
i2E