In the field of medical electronics, Maxim's circle of friends is growing

Northwestern University’s Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics (QSIB) and Maxim Integrated Products have entered into a long-term partnership to help lead the digital revolution in modern healthcare.

Maxim, a global leader in integrated circuit design and manufacturing, has pledged a non-binding gift of $750,000 over 10 years to support QSIB’s efforts to develop wireless, bio-integrated medical sensors. The agreement marks the first of a decade-long partnership between Northwestern University and Maxim.

“Innovations in medicine don’t happen in one or two years,” said John A. Rogers, executive director of Northwestern University’s QSIB and a pioneer in the field of bioelectronics. “Given this, we wanted to set a decade-long timeline focused on improving healthcare and patient outcomes through advanced, next-generation medical sensors. We are pleased to partner with Maxim to help us get our technology out of the lab and into the hands of those who need it most.”

Rogers is a professor of materials science and engineering, biomedical engineering and neurosurgery at Northwestern University. His team develops a range of clinical-grade bio-integrated devices that can detect bending and stretching of the human body to track health, healing and disease progression without causing any harm to the body.

To commercialize his team’s research, Rogers has co-founded several startups, including Sibel Health and Rhaeos. Sibel develops and tests wireless and electronic skins to monitor vital signs and has deployed them at scale on five continents. Rhaeos, which recently won the MedTech Innovator 2020 global competition, aims to address the needs of patients with hydrocephalus.

While the commitment is not tied to a specific project, the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the two parties to form this partnership. Rogers' laboratory has developed a clinical-grade medical device for detecting and monitoring COVID-19, which recently entered clinical trials.

"The work we do in the field of advanced, ubiquitous medical sensing has never been more important than it is now during an unprecedented health crisis," said Dr. Steve Xu, QSIB Medical Director and Partner Chief Designer. "When we first learned how Maxim was aligning its resources to accelerate product development specifically for COVID-19, we realized the importance of our partnership."

Shailendra Mahajan, Managing Director of Maxim and Maxim Ventures, said, “When I first discussed the collaboration with Professor Rogers and Dr. Xu, I was impressed. The lab has a large budget, a strong healthcare ecosystem support, and a talented team. This partnership will help Maxim’s business units better understand the trends and help define innovative products. At Maxim Ventures, a subsidiary of Maxims, we achieve innovation by investing in startups that are continuously innovating healthcare technology solutions.”

“As a leader in healthcare, especially wearables, Maxim is developing a small, power-efficient, single-chip solution to measure multiple vital signs for remote patient monitoring applications,” said Tunç Doluca, Maxim’s president and CEO. “We are pleased to be a partner with QSIB, Northwestern University, and Sibel Health as they plan to take our innovations at the chip level and turn them into breakthrough medical devices. The first goal is to manufacture and deliver a wearable COVID-19 sensor that provides more health monitoring capabilities than any other device before.”

Review of Maxim's efforts in the field of medical electronics

In 2012, Maxim was the first to demonstrate a medical monitoring design kit. This portable design development kit has now been upgraded to the third generation. This ready-made wrist-shaped reference design can monitor blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), electrocardiogram (ECG), heart rate (HR), body temperature and movement. By integrating algorithms and hardware solutions, it can reduce the development cycle by more than six months.

In the medical field, Maxim's main products are used in three areas: wearables, ultrasound imaging, and diagnosis and treatment. The products include power/battery management, sensors, processors, security, analog front-end and other combinations.

In addition to providing products, Maxim has also established Maxim Venture, an investment organization dedicated to helping innovative healthcare and life science startups bridge the gap between the analog measurement world and the digital computing world and create thriving businesses.

Maxim offers a broad range of technologies, including: sensors and analog technologies for precise measurement; security products for calibration, data integrity, and intellectual property (IP), data, and privacy protection; and low-power and power-management solutions for compact mobile and wearable applications.

Importantly, Maxim Ventures is not just a capital partner, but also provides expertise in analog circuits, funding and global partnerships to promote product mass production and enter new markets. Currently, the fund has a size of $200 million.

Currently, the head of Maxim Ventures is Chris Neil, who is also a senior vice president of Maxim. Prior to assuming this position, Chris founded and led Maxim's $1 billion Industrial and Medical Solutions Group (IMSG), which focused on providing semiconductor-based solutions for the energy, healthcare, factory automation, financial terminals and security markets. Chris joined Maxim in 1990 and was appointed vice president in 2006.

Maxim Ventures Managing Director is Shailendra Mahajan, who has accumulated extensive experience in system design, sales, strategic marketing and management over the past 25 years. Mahajan is known for his ability to identify outstanding business opportunities and mentor entrepreneurs. He is a member of the board of directors of Evergaze, HD Medical, LVL (acquired by Gideon) and toSense (acquired by Baxter). In addition, he was selected as one of the 15 leaders in medical intelligence by CB Insights in 2018.

Currently, Maxim Ventures' investment portfolio includes the following:

The acquisition of ADI and Maxim is still in progress. We also know that ADI has great advantages in medical electronics, especially in the field of high-precision front-end, while Maxim has made great achievements in wearables. After the two parties merge, they will combine their strengths to develop a more distinctive medical technology platform.