Preterm birth, where children are born too early, presents serious health complications and is currently the leading cause of newborn deaths in the US. Cervilenz has developed an innovative low cost, single use medical device that accurately measures a pregnant woman’s cervical length, which is the best indicator of preterm birth risk, thereby allowing clinicians to more readily diagnose this condition in comparison to currently used techniques. Any medical professional trained to use a speculum can use CerviLenz. Using CerviLenz adds only a minute to the speculum exam.
CerviLenz’s device is commercially available as of 2011, and the company is currently developing its distribution network. CerviLenz was invented by Dr. Rosalyn Baxter-Jones, an obstetrician and gynecologist in San Diego, Calif. Dr. Baxter-Jones needed a simple, low-cost way to identify patients who were at risk for preterm births.
Dr. Michael Ross, chairman of the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center’s department of obstetrics and gynecology, and Dean Koch, president and chief executive of CerviLenz, bought a majority interest in the device in 2006. The company has been selected and will present at OneMedForum NY 2011.