Eisana is a development stage medical device company developing solutions to prevent side effects from cancer treatment. Their first device is a cryo-device to prevent painful and incurable nerve damage (chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy), specifically tailored to the unique needs of cancer patients.

Side effects from cancer treatment remain a significant issue, dramatically reducing quality of life and increasing healthcare costs. Many chemotherapy drugs permanently destroy sensitive nerve endings in hands and feet, resulting in chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). There is no cure for this painful, debilitating condition. Help tolerating the symptoms costs up to $36,000 per year, per patient. Research has shown that cooling hands and feet on the day of chemotherapy can prevent this nerve damage by constricting blood vessels that feed fingers and toes. A recent American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO) presentation showed a 55% reduction in nerve damage with cooling, concluding that all patients should be encouraged to cool their hands and feet on the day of chemotherapy. Problem is, there’s no easy way to do it. Patients are struggling with bowls of ice water, baggies of frozen vegetables, or freezable socks and mittens.

Eisana Corp is developing the complete solution to this problem: a lightweight cooling device, gloves that allow for functionality (reading, using a phone) and booties that allow walking. They are currently building our next generation prototype, to put on breast cancer patients at MD Anderson. They are funded by NIH/NCI.