Miramar Labs: Bringing A Traditional Device Model To Aesthetics

23 May 2012

Miramar is employing a conventional product development strategy to create the first device therapy in an unconventional clinical space – hyperhidrosis, or excessive sweating. The key: a more rigorous clinical approach than usual in aesthetics. But is the market there?

When Mark E. Deem, a managing partner at The Foundry medical device incubator in Menlo Park, CA, started a literature search several years ago tracking articles on botulinum toxin, he – like most people – had never heard of hyperhidrosis. Deem also had no inkling that this research project would lead to [The Foundry Inc.] launching its tenth start-up, Sunnyvale, CA-based Miramar Labs Inc., dedicated to treating this little-known but what he subsequently found out to be fairly widespread condition that produces excessive perspiration.

Miramar Labs demonstrates that, even for an organization like The Foundry, with its experienced team of serial inventors/entrepreneurs, the sources...