Medical Innovation | Your Delray Boca

Allen F. Campbell, JD, has joined SoundHealth, a Boca Raton-based medical innovation agency, as Senior Vice President and Chief Transactional Officer.

An attorney and biotech entrepreneur, Campbell brings invaluable expertise to the SoundHealth executive team, according to Michael Miller, founder of SoundHealth.

“It is indeed a pleasure to welcome Allen to the SoundHealth team,” said Miller. “He has a successful and exemplary track record of legal and business structuring for a wide range of medical and biotech projects.”

This experience includes: crafting contractual arrangements to protect all parties involved, analyzing commercial potential of medical and biotech projects, and building leadership teams capable of refining innovations and bringing them to market. Campbell honed his exceptional skills at leading institutions. One of them was the international technology consulting firm of Arthur D. Little (ADL), Inc. in Cambridge, MA. In this capacity he was to help the firm build and enhance its capabilities in licensing technology and incubating new companies formed to commercialize technology that was created in-house or brought in from the outside. Campbell served as ADL’s teacher, strategist and organizational consultant.

“Allen’s background enhances our SoundHealth team by bringing the experience of having been on every side of many transactions, and being instrumental in their successful conclusions,” added Miller. “This talent and experience will be a key asset for SoundHealth, as transactions like this are similar to those we are doing. Our business is rooted in being hyper-efficient. Having expertise and knowledge relevant to each product we look at is critical to successful commercialization.”

SoundHealth’s ‘hyper-efficient’ process combines the expertise of innovators, the mission of funding organizations, and the resources of top-tier research institutions to accelerate the development and deployment of beneficial medical innovations.

“We do this without the drama one might find in similar situations,” said Miller. “Allen’s 30 years of experience in medical industry business transactions and keen understanding of the intellectual property licensing arena will serve to benefit everyone involved in and with our unique process.”

Campbell appreciates the benefits of the SoundHealth process.

“As the point organization for these activities, SoundHealth must make sure that all of the various transactions, contracts and business arrangements are legal, reasonable and enforceable,” said Campbell. “Having been the architect of many transactions, and having participated in many others, I’m aware of the pitfalls, from a legal standpoint, and I’m able to analyze the business opportunity of a project by asking the right questions. Once those

questions are answered, we can move forward with needed refinements and bring important innovations to the public.”

Campbell brings more than transactional expertise. He has been the founder, chairman, director and/or shareholder of several medical innovation companies. Most notably he founded International Murex Technologies, which created the world’s first rapid diagnostic for AIDS.

Campbell received his Bachelor’s degree from The College of Wooster, his Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago and his law degree from Columbia University.

About SoundHealth SoundHealth, LLC (www.sound-health.org) founded in 2010, based in Boca Raton, FL, is a “medical innovation agency” whose unique structure and system are designed to expedite the delivery of medical innovation to the marketplace. By combining the business savvy of its executive team with the expertise of inventors, funding organizations and research institutions, SoundHealth is able to provide commerce-ready products to the medical industry’s manufacturing and distribution companies.

SoundHealth’s Mike Miller making a splash in medical innovation.

Editor’s Note: At YourDelrayBoca.com we take pride in shining a spotlight on local entrepreneurs. Today, we introduce you to SoundHealth and its founder Michael Miller.

The medical innovation landscape is littered with valuable products that have not and may never make it to market. And with these failures, the general public suffers because it never had the opportunity to benefit from these innovations.

Such is the dilemma of the thousands of products being developed by inventors, individuals who simply don’t have the knowledge, finances, or connections to bring these innovations to market.

Michael Miller, founder of a Boca Raton-based “medical innovation agency”, was one of the keynote speakers at the Insight Innovation Exchange Health (IIEX) Conference in Philadelphia recently.

His firm, SoundHealth, combines the expertise of the inventors, the missions of funding foundations, and resources of research institutions to develop what is essentially a market-ready medical solution for presentation to potential purchasers of the product.

Miller was joined on the panel by executives from InCrowd, AstraZeneca, and Merck.

“Getting a product to market can be a time-consuming and cumbersome exercise,” said Miller. “Quite frankly most inventors simply don’t have the ‘muscle’ to usher a product through the various stages of development. And, even if they have a mature product, they don’t have the knowledge of how to market these products directly to the consumer.”

Miller explained that inventors must recognize that there is a new model, one that involves looking for an “exit strategy” before the product gets to market.

“Too often, innovators spend too much money and time developing a product, and they run out of capital, can’t secure approvals, can’t afford manufacturing, and can’t raise more capital,” he said. “The unfortunate reality is that these products die on the vine. And, another product sits on the shelf.

“This is a vicious cycle in the medical innovation world. The real tragedy is two-fold. First the people that could benefit from these products don’t get the opportunity to use them, and second the innovators don’t get to benefit financially from their creations.”

SoundHealth streamlines the process of moving these medical innovations from “bench to bed- seamlessly”.

“All we ask is that products be relatively mature,” said Miller during his presentation. “They can’t be a concept written on a napkin. We then consider which distribution outlets (i.e. medical device, pharmaceutical, biotech, etc.) may want to purchase it following a conditional evaluation. That is what we mean by working backwards from the exit strategy.”

Through relationships with various funding organizations and research & development entities, SoundHealth is able to deliver market-ready products to purchasing and distribution firms.

“Our process minimizes the need for inventors to raise capital, hire lots of people and spend time lost in all the drama” he said. “It’s our business to take early stage innovations, and working with the innovators, rapidly finish it to the point it’s ready for commercialization.

The interest in SoundHealth’s model was evident at the IIEX conference.

“One of the major concerns of medical innovators who were there was getting the product to market,” said Miller. “We are now in the process of evaluating a number of products from the conference, and we’re confident that several will become part of our growing portfolio.

“We also have the attention of the distribution and manufacturers who are continually seeking the next great medical innovation.”

One key feature to this unique business model is, that everyone involved benefits.

“The inventor earns significant money through the ultimate sale,” said Miller. “Funding organizations support and sponsor medical innovation that helps their constituents. Research institutions are being funded to conduct research. And, distribution and manufacturing companies receive the latest medical innovation that may save lives while improving their bottom lines.”

Miller added that many of the inventors are physicians who are developing products as a way to enhance their medical practices or even phase out of their practice altogether with the hopes of retiring.

“Some are inventing products directly related to their medical expertise,” said Miller. “They have a passion for medicine and their patients’ well-being and this is just another way for them to contribute, all while pursuing the American dream of making a significant amount of money.”

About SoundHealth:

Boca Raton based SoundHealth, founded in 2010 (www.sound-health.org) is a “medical innovation agency” that expedites the process of delivering medical device, pharmaceutical, and biotech innovation to the marketplace. SoundHealth’s unique process combines the expertise of inventors, funding organizations, and research institutions, which provide commercial-ready products to distribution/marketing companies.

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