Showing posts with label testing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label testing. Show all posts

Drawing Blood Without Needles Could Become Standard for Care



A small San Francisco start up called Velano Vascular is garnering attention lately for its fully FDA-approved device called a PIVO, which draws blood through IVs already inserted in patients.

The PIVO, derived from “peripheral intravenous catheter,” would mean relief for inpatients who need daily blood draws – oftentimes requiring more than one poke if veins are problematic. Chief innovation officer of Intermountain Healthcare Todd Dunn said the device offers compassion for patients, and he recommends it become the new standard of care. Intermountain Healthcare, a hospital system in Utah that contains 22 centers, is studying the device.

Velano Vascular’s co-founder, 39-year-old Pitou Devgon, M.D., first considered the invention while hearing complaints from an elderly patient who was upset at the constant poking of needles for blood draws. After a full week in the hospital, bruises on her arms revealed her discomfort. When she already had an IV, she asked, what was the point of more needles?

Devgon slowly realized an idea the elderly patient helped bring to light – a tube that inserts into the existing, larger IV tube that is specifically for drawing blood. While the IV catheter is unable to draw fluids out of a patient, it works well to inject fluids into a patient. The PIVO allows for a clean blood draw, and is thrown away afterwards. Devgon was eventually introduced to Eric Stone, fellow co-founder of Velano and a health-care entrepreneur, who helped bring his idea to life.

Many children’s hospitals are attracted to the device, as children tend to have an extreme fear of needles, and PIVO could give them a more pain-free hospital experience. PIVO was granted funding from the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation, a unit of the Children’s National Health System in Washington, D.C. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Griffin Hospital in Connecticut are also supporting Velano financially.

With the additional support of institutional investors such as Safeguard Scientifics, along with the support of individuals like Becton Dickenson (one of the largest needle manufacturers in the world), Velano has received $8.5 million in funding.


For Stone, developing the PIVO was personal. He was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease 25 years ago, and spent many days and nights having blood drawn in hospitals. He believes that the PIVO will become a new standard of care, and will come in contact with every patient who exists at some point in their lives.