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Roseville company bets on success of device to stop snoring
JIM McCARTNEY
Associated Press

ROSEVILLE, Minn. - Using a tiny wind tunnel, a leather tongue and a Shop-Vac, Tim Conrad helped invent a medical device that's the centerpiece a Roseville company with about 50 employees and prospects of $8 million in sales next year.

But Conrad's biggest payoff from the invention may be peace and harmony in his own bedroom.

"I used to get jabbed and told to go and sleep on the sofa," Conrad said.

Not anymore. "The other night, she kicked the dog out and I got to stay."

Restore Medical's new device is an implant to treat snoring, and Conrad not only helped invent it, but he was also one of the first patients to receive it.

Getting a good night's sleep is becoming a big industry. Another Minnesota company, Eden Prairie-based CNS Inc., sells Breathe Right nasal strips and throat spray aimed at the snoring market, and the products accounted for most of its $79 million in sales last year.

Research firm Frost & Sullivan's said treating snoring and related sleep disorders is growing at an annual clip of about 15 percent to 20 percent. The firm projects it could become a $1 billion industry in four years.

"As far as we're concerned, CNS has barely scratched the surface of their potential customer base," said Chris Krueger, a securities analyst with Miller, Johnson, Steichen & Kinnard in Minneapolis.

Snoring is prevalent among adults, and is increasingly common among children as well. Nearly half of American adults snore occasionally, and half of those - 40 million or so - are habitual snorers. Of those, about 27 million heavy snorers disturb their bed partners and about 12 million are diagnosed with sleep apnea.

"It's becoming a very big problem, especially as the population is aging and weighing more," said Dr. Philip Rapport, an Edina ear, nose and throat physician. Age and obesity, along with genetics, are key factors in snoring, he said. Other factors are smoking, drinking and sedatives.

As a result, the market is growing and is wide open for new competitors since no one has come up with a surefire cure. Over-the-counter treatments such as nasal strips, splints, oral appliances, throat sprays, ergonomic pillows, wrist alarms that vibrate in response to snoring, and pills all claim to help reduce snoring.

A recent study looked at the most popular over-the-counter remedies and cast doubt on their effectiveness.

Medical procedures to treat snoring - they include scarring or cutting away soft palate tissue or amputating the uvula - are invasive, can be painful and are often not enough.

Another new approach is to inject a hardening agent into the soft palate, a procedure called injection snoreplasty. The procedures typically cost between $1,000 to $2,000 and are not covered by health insurance. The Restore implant and radiofrequency (also called somnoplasty) procedures cost in the middle of the range, said Sue Critzer, Restore's chief executive.

"There is nothing that can eliminate snoring," says ear, nose and throat specialist Thomas Okner, who has used all of the above procedures and has implanted the Restore device as well.

The lack of a cure intrigued Conrad, a patent attorney, and his partner, Mark Knudson, a physiologist who works for a venture capital firm. They were looking for a medical market with unmet needs and found the snoring and sleep disorder market as ripe territory.

So they set out to invent a less invasive, more effective treatment for snoring. They started by studying the aerodynamics of snoring using a small wind tunnel, a leather "tongue," and a Shop-Vac to simulate breathing.

"We found that if we put a piece of tape on the leather to stiffen it, it stopped fluttering," Conrad said.

After refining some of their ideas, they incorporated the company, then called Pi Medical, in 1999. They quickly filed patents and were able to raise $12 million in venture financing in 2000.

The product won marketing approval from the Food and Drug Administration late last year, was launched this spring and was an attention-getter at a national convention of ear, nose and throat doctors in Orlando in September.

As Restore has built up its marketing force to train doctors to perform the implant - it takes a few minutes using a preloaded insertion device - the company expects that the number of patients getting the implant will hit 800 this year and climb to 11,000 next year.

The implants have the added advantage of being a quick, one-time procedure in the doctor's office that is relatively painless and is reversible, Okner said. And doctors like the procedure because it's quick, efficient and standardized, and doesn't require any capital equipment. None of the other procedures can offer all of those benefits, he says.

"It's still early, but I would say this is one of the most promising methods that has come along," Rapport said.

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