The Heat is on for First Circle Medical
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
Many scientists and physicians believe in the healing power of heat, but to date, there have been no major commercial successes in hyperthermia. Hyperthermia companies suffer from the field's checkered past: a wave of commercial hyperthermia flameouts in the 1980's means that many investors won't give hyperthermia companies a second glance. First Circle Medical's challenge is to win over skeptical investors and clinicians as it pursues a new device market for hepatitis C. There it aims to offer a side effect free alternative to drugs for a deadly and prevalent disease with few therapeutic options, or, at the very least, a procedure that will potentially boost the efficacy of drugs. But as the first and only player in a new field, and in light of the prejudice against hyperthermia devices that many share, First Circle has to create a base of rigorous scientific data from scratch; indeed, it has to bear the burden of doing everything right.