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INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | | SEPTEMBER 8, 2000 ENTREPRENEUR PROFILES A Fashion Statement for Your Vital Signs Startup LifeShirt.com has VCs' hearts fluttering with a T-shirt that keeps tabs on your cardiac and respiratory functions
But this is no ordinary Lycra blend. In a sea of high-tech undergarments and workout wear, this T-shirt does more than hug your form or wick moisture from the skin. Woven throughout the fabric are black bands embedded with physiologic sensors and electrocardiographic electrodes. And in a pocket at the hip rests a small, handheld computer. This shirt is wired to record every breath, every heartbeat, and more than three dozen other measures of cardiac and respiratory function. That may sound like something that "Q" stitched up for 007's closet. But a small Southern California startup believes it's on the verge of a new frontier in medicine -- the blending of apparel with medical equipment and Internet innovation. LifeShirt.com says the technology has practical -- and potentially profitable -- applications, whether for doctors treating the chronically ill, drug companies collecting research data, or overstressed workers concerned about their physical well-being. "It provides an awareness that will allow people to do preventive health care," says Andy Behar, founder and chief operating officer of the Ojai-based company. T FOR TRANSMISSION. The garment, also called the LifeShirt, is a product of technology both new and old. Its precursor, a clunky machine used to monitor critically ill hospital patients, was developed, in part, by Behar's father-in-law, Dr. Marvin Sackner, more than two decades ago. Called the Respitrace, it measured breathing patterns using elastic-and-wire bands attached to a 9-lb. recording device. LifeShirt.com updated the model with lighter bands and additional sensors -- then sewed it all into a T-shirt. The company also seized upon the miniaturization of computers, replacing the heavy box with a Palm handheld-size device. "What we do is take it on the road," says Behar. "You're in real-life situations...in your car having road rage, at work doing a presentation, on the golf course making a shot." Ultimately, the company hopes to take the shirt a step further, introducing a wireless version that could transmit data straight from the shirt to LifeShirt.com's computer. For now, the wearer must detach the handheld device and send the data in batches over a phone line. Once it's received and translated into a readable form, the information can be viewed by anyone with a password -- such as a doctor, a patient, or a researcher -- over a secure Web site. At least, that's the theory. The LifeShirt isn't expected to be commercially available until next year, and it won't be marketed to individuals until sometime after that. At the company's offices -- housed in a converted library in Behar's home -- the six-person staff is still choosing from various fabrics, cuts, and colors. PRICEY ACCESSORY. But that hasn't deterred investors, who have been attracted as much by the company's business plan as the product itself. In general, managed-care companies have been reluctant to pay for telemedicine or remote monitoring. (One exception: women at high risk of pre-term labor.) LifeShirt.com, however, is taking a different tack. Instead of going after the managed-care market first, the company is targeting deep-pocketed pharmaceutical companies, which pour more than $20 billion a year into research. The company touts the shirt as a way to capture reams of data while lowering the cost of trials by reducing the need for frequent office visits to record patients' vital signs. One sign of the industry's interest: Two major drug companies have agreed to deploy 25 LifeShirts in drug trials early next year. Another market that LifeShirt.com plans to target is sleep-disorder clinics, which typically require patients to stay in their labs overnight. With the shirt, patients could sleep in their own beds, having their restless patterns and details of their insomnia recorded to be analyzed later. Eventually, the company hopes the technology will become accepted by managed-care companies for use on chronically ill individuals, such as severe asthma sufferers, or on patients recovering from strokes. And at some point in the future, though Behar won't say when, the shirt will go on sale to the general public. When that happens, however, it's likely to be too pricey for most weekend warriors yearning to be in constant touch with their vital signs. The equipment, including the handheld computer, is expected to sell for $500 to $600 and each data transmission is expected to carry a $30 to $50 fee. PRIVACY ISSUES. That business strategy -- reaching out to a broad market -- is largely what persuaded investors to commit $7.5 million in the company's second round of venture-capital funding, says Edward Johnson of CSFB Private Equity. CSFB contributed $5 million of that and pledged to provide $7.5 million more if the company hits certain benchmarks. "At first we thought, 'Gee, this is a really neat technology,'" Johnson says. "But the more we got into it and worked with the company, we realized there are three large markets to go after." Another point in LifeShirt.com's favor: Its shirt is designed for serious medical use and captures a greater breadth of data than other heart-rate devices already on the market. Like any fledgling company, LifeShirt.com faces some tough hurdles. The venture-capital cash will cover design and manufacturing costs for the 50-shirt beta test next year. The question is whether it can deliver the goods. "The biggest risk the company faces is in execution and positioning the product properly for each of its target markets," says Johnson. Another weakness noted by investors: A lack of experience in the medical-device field. The company is now searching for a business-development specialist with a background in the pharmaceutical or biotech industries. Mmedical records and privacy will be one thorny issue. Safeguards and firewalls have been built to protect medical data, says Behar, adding that the company will comply with federal regulations guarding the privacy of electronic medical records. Yet LifeShirt.com will retain the right to analyze the data it collects and sell its findings -- without revealing patient identities -- to managed-care companies and others interested in outcomes of diseases and treatments. Then there's the inevitable question of patient preference. No matter how useful the technology or secure the data, it's the shirt's style, fit, and general comfort level that will decide whether it comes out of the closet each day.  By Julie Fields in New York Edited by Robin J. Phillips  | | |
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