For the estimated 54 million Americans
with obstructive sleep apnea, bedtime
isn’t refreshing. Their airways are
partially blocked during sleep, leading to
daytime grogginess and lasting health
problems. Continuous positive airway
pressure, or CPAP, treatment can be
effective, but about half of users quit,
citing factors like discomfort, stress, and
cost. To help more people sleep safely, a
team of Johns Hopkins alumni is
developing a lightweight sleep apnea
treatment device that is as easy to wear
as a retainer.
When Sleep Isn’t Sound
While training in otolaryngology–head
and neck surgery in Australia, Somnair
Sleep co-founder and CEO Anders
Sideris, Engr ’23 (MSE), saw how sleep
apnea harmed patients. Over the
course of the night, people with sleep
apnea can snore, gasp for air, or stop
breathing more than five times per
hour for 10+ seconds each time. They
face an increased risk of chronic
diseases like heart disease and
diabetes. CPAP treatment opens
airways through a pressurized mask
worn at night, but many people can’t
tolerate the bulky mask or the dry air
flowing through it. When CPAP fails,
the next step is often highly invasive
surgery to correct airway obstruction.
At Johns Hopkins, Sideris met
co-founders Mitchell Turley, Engr ’23
(MSE); Phoebe Dijour, Engr ’23 (MSE);
and Shri Prabha Shivram, Engr ’23
(MSE). They shadowed ear, nose, and
throat surgeons and observed patients
who struggled with CPAP but were
unable or unwilling to undergo
surgery. They spent over 1,000 hours
listening to physicians and patients,
determined to find a solution for the
patients’ unmet needs.
“We were able to bounce ideas off
each other from different perspectives
to develop this idea: a noninvasive
treatment for the disorder that
specifically serviced those patients
that had no other option,” says Sideris,
a President’s Venture Fellow.
The team ultimately found a flash
of inspiration when scouring anatomy
textbooks. They zeroed in on a nerve
that controls muscle activity in the palate
and throat and leads to airway
opening when stimulated. “We
realized that there’s this one target
that hasn’t been tried before—and it’s
accessible, noninvasively, in the
mouth,” Sideris says.
A New Approach
The Somnair Sleep team’s device stimulates
the target nerve to open a user’s
blocked airway. The wearer places the
retainerlike device inside their mouth
at bedtime. Within the device is a circuit
that applies stimulation, similar
to a muscle stimulator used to reduce
muscle pain after exercise.
“While the patient’s sleeping, it’s
gently providing that stimulation in
order to maintain the airway opening as
they’re trying to breathe in,” Turley says.
The team is conducting a proof-of-concept
study with Johns Hopkins
School of Medicine physicians Luu
Van Pham and Kevin M. Motz. Early
results in 22 patients appear to
validate their hypothesis that the
device opens airways in patients who
aren’t tolerating CPAP.
Reaching Patients in Need
The Somnair Sleep team is now pitching
its product to investors and incubators.
Johns Hopkins Technology
Ventures and the Pava Marie LaPere
Center for Entrepreneurship have
linked Somnair Sleep with resources
to help with the complexities of
launching and growing a medical
device business, from technical
development to regulatory planning.
“The growing entrepreneurship
community at Hopkins and in Baltimore
as a whole has been extremely
helpful, both in terms of connections
for the company as well as providing a
supportive community,” Turley says.
The team’s goal is to obtain FDA
approval for the device so they can
market it to patients in need.
“We care about patients and
reducing the suffering that they experience
each night. We want to provide
them an option that they want to use,
they want to wear, and that would
simplify their lives and even the lives
of their partners,” Turley says.