metaMe Health was named a winner of the prestigious Sandoz Healthcare Access Challenge (Sandoz HACk) for the company’s lead product Regulora®, a fully digital behavioral intervention for the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). The global competition was sponsored by Sandoz, a Novartis division headquartered outside Munich, Germany. Winners were announced at a recent award ceremony held in conjunction with South by Southwest (SXSW).
Last fall, Sandoz HACk invited entrepreneurs and innovators in the field of digital technology to submit ideas with the potential to complement – or even positively disrupt – established approaches to driving access to healthcare to help create practical, scalable solutions that can have a significant impact on people’s lives. Three finalists, including metaMe, were selected in January from more than 400 global entries, and invited to participate in a four-day “accelerator event” at SXSW. At the conclusion of the event, the three finalists pitched their ideas in person to a panel of judges, consisting of Sandoz and industry experts
Judges assessed finalists based on criteria including the anticipated impact of their idea and the effective use of digital technologies. The judging panel determined that all three finalists were worthy of the top honor and thus named them all winners of the Sandoz HACk competition. Winners will receive both seed funding to bring their ideas to life as well as ongoing support from Sandoz experts. metaMe was the only winning company that represented the United States.
“Our time spent at South by Southwest was a tremendous experience for us as we not only gained valuable insights from both the Sandoz team and the other finalists but also received critical validation from our peers as we bring Regulora to market,” said Tim Rudolphi, chief executive officer, metaMe Health.
The judging panel was led by Carol Lynch, President of Sandoz US and Head of Sandoz North America, and included Steffen Kurzawa, Global Head of Communications, Sandoz; John Frémont, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Hypergiant; Rich Maloy, Director at Established and Venture Partner at SpringTime Ventures; Jennifer Skjellum, Director of Programs at The Company Lab; and John W. Dankanich, Chief Technologist at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.
“Sandoz sees the future of healthcare as being driven by two closely related factors: the digital revolution and the need for strong collaboration between healthcare companies and external partners,” said Lynch. “We saw three teams pitch innovative ideas to tackle a diverse range of healthcare access issues. As judges, we felt passionate about all three ideas and the people behind them, and so we are excited to offer support and seed funding to all teams.”
For more information about Sandoz HACk, visit www.sandoz.com/sandoz-hack