SPOC, Inc.
68 Southfield Ave. Suite 100, Stamford CT

Chronic muscle pain may be a thing of the past – or at least be more efficiently diagnosed and treated – if a handheld biomedical device being introduced by Stamford-based Stevens Proof of Concept Inc. is embraced by physicians and utilized broadly in doctors’ offices.

The SPOC device pinpoints the specific muscle that causes pain and is the first product to be introduced by the company. The purpose of this device is to identify the source of pain and allow physicians to more effectively treat muscle pain, avoiding surgery whenever possible. The SPOC muscle pain diagnostic device was initially developed by biomedical engineering students at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, in conjunction with pain management expert Dr. Norman Marcus. CI learned about the device and the nascent company through the school’s Office of University Research and Enterprise Development.

Upon first meeting the SPOC team, CI was impressed by the technical capabilities of the team and the innovativeness and market potential of their device. CI seized the opportunity to partner with the company in 2007, serving as its first institutional investor with an investment of $500,000 through CI’s Connecticut BioSeed Fund. That funding helped SPOC to meet certain milestones, including the finalization of product design and the successful completion of clinical trials. The CI funding was also a major factor in the company’s decision to move to Connecticut.

CI was so impressed by the team’s ability to rapidly meet its technical and business milestones that it made a follow-on investment this year providing an additional $300,000 through the Eli Whitney Fund. Proceeds from this round enabled the company to gain FDA 510K clearance for the manufacture and marketing of its new product as a clinical device.

www.spocmedical.com