The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), a member of the U.S. NIH to provide Remmie Health with nearly $3 million in support, subject to the availability of funds

SEATTLE (June 12, 2024) – Remmie Health has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 grant to develop and commercialize Remmie.ai, an AI-based diagnostic assistance engine for supporting clinicians to accurately identify ENT diseases. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), a member of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), plans to provide nearly $3 million in support, subject to the availability of funds.

ENT diagnosis depends upon in-person clinic visits and visual examination by medical providers, at great inconvenience to patients and caregivers and a significant cost to the healthcare system, estimated at $4 billion per year.

“This grant is a milestone in AI healthcare, enabling more accurate and efficient diagnostic assistance tools for ENT conditions, addressing the $40 billion global market for accurate ENT diagnosis,” said Jane Zhang, PhD/MBA, Remmie’s CEO and President. “This will ultimately help increase access, reduce costs, and enhance confidence in diagnosis and referral care for patients worldwide.”

The grant encompasses clinical research with Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, one of the top children's hospitals in the nation. Led by Dr. Juan Espinoza, the study team will include key members of the Medical Device Clinical Trials Unit for The Consortium for Technology & Innovation in Pediatrics (CTIP), an FDA-funded pediatric device accelerator centered at Lurie Children’s, the Division of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, and the Smith Child Health Catalyst, a research service core at the intersection of pediatric research and child health.

“Remmie.ai’s preliminary data are compelling, and we are confident in our ability to explore its clinical applications and develop this innovative technology for pediatric care,” says Juan Espinoza, MD, Chief Research Informatics Officer of Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute at Lurie Children’s, and CTIP Director. 

This award builds on last year's SBIR Phase 1 success, where Remmie.ai achieved high accuracy in recognizing both binary and multi-class ear conditions and deployed for usability feedback.  

The two-year Phase 2 will advance Remmie.ai's development and integration into clinical practice. The outcomes will deliver accurate ENT diagnosis assistance through real-world testing and lead towards FDA designation as a Software as Medical Device (SaMD).

For more information about Remmie, visit https://remmiehealth.com/remmie-ai. For investment and healthcare partnerships, click here to contact Remmie Health CEO, Jane Zhang.

About Remmie:

Remmie helps families play a more active role in their health from the convenience of home by bringing connected ENT examination into their hands to share with a doctor online. Remmie uses technology to target the most common reason Americans go to the doctor's office, ear, nose, throat, and common upper respiratory conditions. The Remmie solution suite includes a digital otoscope kit, APIs to link with telehealth and e-health provider platforms, and a pipeline ML/AI diagnosis assistance engine, Remmie.ai.

About Remmie.ai:

The Remmie.ai platform is based on cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) technology that can accurately identify and classify a wide range of ENT symptoms. This means that pediatricians can use Remmie.ai to diagnose ENT conditions quickly and easily, even in children who are unable to communicate their symptoms clearly. In addition to its accuracy, Remmie.ai is highly convenient for both patients and providers. Patients can use the Remmie Apps to capture their symptoms and share them with their doctor in real time. This eliminates the need for in-person visits, which can be time-consuming and expensive for families.

About Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago:

Research at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is conducted through Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute, which is focused on improving child health, transforming pediatric medicine and ensuring healthier futures through the relentless pursuit of knowledge. Lurie Children’s is a nonprofit organization committed to providing access to exceptional care for every child. It is ranked as one of the nation’s top children’s hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. Lurie Children’s is the pediatric training ground for Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

About CTIP:

The Consortium for Technology & Innovation in Pediatrics (CTIP) is a pediatric medical device accelerator based at Lurie Children’s Hospital and Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Established in 2011 and first funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Pediatric Device Consortia (PDC) grant program in 2013, CTIP promotes the commercialization and clinical use of pediatric medical device technology. CTIP has since received PDC awards in 2018 and again in 2023 to continue research and development of MedTech for children (Grant Number: P50FD007963, PI: Espinoza). CTIP addresses the most important component missing from pediatric device innovation: simultaneously engaging clinicians, engineers, regulators, hospital administrators, patients and the business community in the process of assessment and development of technology. For portfolio companies, CTIP fosters networking opportunities, direct and indirect financial support and guidance on issues related to, but not limited to, intellectual property, prototyping ,engineering, testing, grant writing, and clinical trial design. CTIP’s network of children’s hospitals, academic institutions, accelerators, and incubators includes 26 organizations across 8 states.

About the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD):

The NIDCD supports and conducts research and research training on the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language and provides health information, based upon scientific discovery, to the public.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):

NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases.

The research reported in this press release is supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Award Number 1R43DC020868 and 2R44DC020868-02. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.