Respair Inc. Update: From CMI Funding to a Medical Device Company

I recently had the privilege of speaking with the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Respair, Inc., Dr. Carl Snyderman, and engineer, Amelia Gordon. They shared Respair’s story and how funding from the Center for Medical Innovation (CMI) helped accelerate Respair’s progress.

In addition to serving as the CTO of Respair, Dr. Snyderman also works as the Co-Director for Cranial Base Surgery at UPMC’s Department of Otolaryngology. Throughout his career as a head and neck surgeon, he noticed that endotracheal tubes would often move or dislodge from patients’ throats, leading to safety issues for long-term intubation. While pursuing an MBA at the Katz School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh, he was exposed to entrepreneurship. This stimulated him to apply his new skills to solving airway problems with endotracheal tubes. After receiving his MBA, he applied for an early-stage translational seed grant from CMI. He was given funding and access to the Swanson Center for Product Innovation (SCPI) lab to work on prototypes. He was introduced to Dr. Garrett Coyan, MD, at the time a student in the MS-MPE program, who had similar interests to Dr. Snyderman. However, they soon discovered early in their collaboration that the biggest problem was not the dislodgement of the endotracheal tube. Rather, it was fluid entering the patient’s lungs, leading to ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). The team then pivoted to developing an endotracheal tube with baffles rather than a balloon cuff.

Dr. Snyderman was then introduced to a team of Medical Product Engineering M.S. students in Professor Hirschman’s 2150 Medical Product Ideation and Design course. They worked together to develop a low-resolution prototype through laser-cutting rubber. However, the team’s goal was to have more robust prototypes and to test geometries quickly. Therefore, they decided to reach out to the University of Pittsburgh IDEA Lab, where they were introduced to Amelia Gordon. At the time, Amelia was an undergraduate student interning at the lab. Using computer-aided design, she modeled 50 iterations of baffle molds and analyzed both their risk of deformation and flow analysis to minimize material waste. She then conducted material testing for the baffles and selected a soft PVC due to its easily customizable flexibility and its ability to remelt and solidify. She also tested various resins to determine which was best for SLA-printing molds that could withstand the high temperatures of the melted PVC. Eventually, the device turned into what is now known as RelianceET. Several students became officers of the new company, Respair, Inc, which has employed other graduate engineers from the MS-MPE program, including CEO and co-Founder Ross Beresford (MS-MPE '18).

Respair has come a long way since receiving CMI funding. The team went on to secure over $120,000 in non-dilutive support through University of Pittsburgh programs such as LifeX, the PinCh Award, and the Michael G. Wells Competition, as well as from Duquesne University, the NIH, and the NSF. Building on that foundation, Respair later raised more than $3 million in Series-A capital, completed two FDA pre-submission meetings confirming a Class II 510(k) pathway, established an ISO 13485-compliant quality management system, and began pilot production with U.S. manufacturing partners.

Respair also currently holds two US patents for its baffle technology, which were originally filed through the University of Pittsburgh with assistance from CMI and Pitt’s Innovation Institute. In the interview, Dr. Snyderman noted, “I don’t know if we would have succeeded without all of this support from the University of Pittsburgh.” In addition to allowing the company to build a foundation for intellectual property and form valuable connections, the University also provided the team with free legal consultation through the law school. Together, these programs gave Respair the foundation it needed to grow from an academic project, funded initially by CMI seed grants, into a medical device company advancing airway innovation.