Skribe Medical
Surviving cancer can come with a cruel footnote. Some of the therapies that shrink tumours can quietly weaken the heart. Clinicians call it cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction (CTRCD), and catching it early usually means repeated echocardiograms, the heart ultrasounds that demand separate appointments, trained sonographers and, too often, a pause in treatment while oncologists wait for results.
Skribe Medical, a US medtech startup, wants to replace part of that routine with a sticker. Its Aurora System pairs a multi-sensor adhesive patch with AI to estimate left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). This is the share of blood the heart’s main pumping chamber pushes out with each beat, and it is the number oncologists watch most closely for signs of trouble.
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The company said this week that Aurora has been selected for the US Food and Drug Administration’s READI-Home Innovation Challenge. It also said more than 800 patients have enrolled in its NOECHO clinical study across 10 US sites and one in Southeast Asia. The study compares the patch’s readings with echocardiography, which is still the gold standard.
A seat at the FDA table, not a green light
The READI-Home selection is worth reading carefully. It gives Skribe early engagement and feedback from the regulator as it designs a version for home use. It is not marketing authorisation, and Skribe itself states plainly that it guarantees nothing about any future submission. The company has earned a conversation, not a clearance.
Nor has Skribe published accuracy figures from NOECHO. Enrolment numbers tell you a trial is moving. They tell you nothing about whether a patch on the chest can match a sonographer’s probe, and that is the figure cardiologists, investors and eventually regulators will be waiting for.
Co-founder and CEO Ryan Neely frames the pitch around patient burden rather than technology. “Cancer patients already face a demanding treatment journey. Checking their heart function should be easier to fit into that care,” he said. The near-term plan is a point-of-care test that fits into a regular oncology visit. Home monitoring is the longer-term ambition.
The founders are Neely, CTO Josh Kay and Chief Scientific Officer Andrew Bohannon. They previously worked together at iota Biosciences, the wireless bioelectronics firm acquired by Astellas Pharma. That pedigree matters in medtech, where the distance between a working prototype and a regulated product is measured in years.
Why a US heart patch is running trials in Southeast Asia
The more interesting story for this region sits further down the press release. Skribe’s lead backer is SeaX Ventures, which led its US$1.65 million pre-seed round alongside GoAhead Ventures and Marin Sonoma Impact Ventures. SeaX, headquartered in San Francisco and announcing the news from Bangkok, did more than write a cheque. It connected Skribe with hospital partners in Southeast Asia and helped recruit more than 100 patients for its studies.
Managing Partner Dr Kid Parchariyanon calls this the firm’s “Time Machine” thesis: pairing US innovation with Southeast Asia’s clinical expertise and hospital networks. “For deeptech founders, access to capital is only part of the challenge. They also need the right clinical partners to build evidence and a credible path to market,” he said. SeaX has spread its bets widely, from a seed round in precision fermentation startup Melazyme to a strategic investment in AI gaming firm Onibi.
The logic holds up. Medical AI tested mostly on Western patients has a well-documented habit of stumbling on people who look nothing like its training data, so evidence gathered across diverse patient populations strengthens any future regulatory file. The region’s high-volume private hospitals can also recruit quickly, and Bangkok’s in particular have shown an appetite for new technology, with some turning to agentic AI to overhaul patient services.
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But the arrangement deserves a sceptical eye. Southeast Asia has a long history of serving as a faster, cheaper testing ground for products ultimately priced for richer markets. If the region’s patients help validate Aurora, the fair question is whether they will also be early beneficiaries once it is approved, or whether they will wait behind American health systems. Skribe talks of taking precision medicine beyond well-resourced health centres, which suggests the intent is there. The commercial plan for this region has not been spelled out.
There is an ecosystem angle too. Southeast Asian founders have struggled to attract healthtech investment even during the AI boom, and the region’s cancer response is outpacing its policies and capital. A homegrown cardio-oncology company would be welcome. For now, the region is supplying the hospitals and the patients rather than the startup.
A crowded race to read the heart without an ultrasound
Skribe is not alone in trying to estimate cardiac function without a full echo. Eko Health, the California digital stethoscope maker, has an FDA-cleared algorithm that flags low ejection fraction during a routine exam. Anumana, spun out of nference, does something similar from a standard ECG. UK-based Ultromics and GE HealthCare, which bought Caption Health in 2023, use AI to make echocardiograms faster and easier to perform.
Closer to home, Singapore’s injewelme raised US$1.2 million to scale contactless vital-signs technology, though it targets general monitoring rather than cancer care. Skribe’s bet is narrower: a wearable built specifically for oncology, where repeated testing over months creates a recurring need.
That focus is both its edge and its risk. Oncology gives Skribe a clear clinical use case and motivated buyers. But US$1.65 million is a thin budget for a company running an 11-site study and preparing for a US regulatory path, so a much larger round looks inevitable.
The ‘wearable intranet’ moonshot
In parallel, Skribe is developing Resonant Body Power and Communication, a platform that sends power and data across the body’s surface between a central hub and battery-free sensors. The company calls it a “wearable intranet”. If it works, clinicians could place several cheap sensors on a patient without charging or pairing each one.
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It is an ambitious second act for a company that has yet to clear its first product, and investors will want Aurora’s numbers before they fund it.
Still, the model on display may outlast the product. If SeaX can repeatedly turn Southeast Asia’s hospitals into a validation engine for foreign deep tech, the region’s real export may be clinical evidence itself. The harder question is whether it can also keep some of the value that evidence creates.
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