Sleep Apnea Assay Could Be Groundbreaker in Marketing and Branding

If there is any offbeat whimsy to the act of urinating in a cup, NuSomnea wants a piece of that market. The Maryland-based startup is working with PGXL Laboratories in Louisville, Ky., to develop a test that would screen children for obstructive sleep apnea. The symptoms, which include an inability to focus on tasks and intense physical activity, can often be misdiagnosed as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, leading to prescriptions of Ritalin and other unnecessary medications. The test focuses on four proteins in the urine that are associated sleep apnea. Early trials indicate that the test is more than 96 percent accurate. The test could be sold at a pricepoint of $500—or far lower if it is sold over the counter in a kit form. That is a fraction of the price of monitoring and analyzing a child’s breathing patterns as they try to sleep in a laboratory, according to Mike Thomas, NuSomnea’s chief executive officer. “It could be a really nice disease management tool,” he said. However, NuSomnea and PGXL have decided to jump the tracks of the traditional route for a laboratory-developed test. The first break with laboratory tradition is the decidedly unclinical name of the assay: The Easy Peezy Pee Test. The second break from lab orthodoxy is the marketing campaign behind the test. It includes three characters known as the Peezies, which resemble jelly beans with human limbs. One Peezy runs around in circles, wearing a circle in the carpet. Another climbs drapes before ripping them down and using them as a blanket. A third sports a football helmet and merrily bangs its head against the wall. The characters are backdropped by what is known as the “Easy Peezy Song,” a folksy number composed and sung by Eve Fleishman, whose vocal style resembles a brighter version of Nora Jones. “Why can’t it be easy peezy, so easy peezy, let it be/You may say it’s ADD, but that could just be leading us astray. Astray. Hey Hey/Hesitate to medicate—don’t want to speed my life away . . . we can change the story by peeing in a cup!” Fleishman sings. “The use of cartoons and a cleverly written song surpasses what most people are accustomed to,” said Peter Francis, president of the Maryland-based consulting firm Clinical Laboratory Sales Training. Thomas said the Peezies and the song took about six months to assemble, with the specific intent of reaching a consumer audience. The PGXL team was “very comfortable” with the concept and “completely wowed” by the execution, according to Thomas. PGXL executives were not available for comment. The third break from orthodoxy is how NuSomnea is trying to fund a second validation test, which could involve 120 pediatric patients or more. The company has launched a $100,000 crowdfunding campaign on the Indiegogo Web site. It raised more than $31,500 of its goal within the first two weeks of its launch. Thomas said the campaign serves a second purpose: gauging consumer sentiment for such a product. A good response could make it easier to raise venture capital moving forward, he added. However, Francis said that some investors could be put off by what he called the “hokeyness” of the marketing effort. He also noted that some investors might want more research data before investing in the development of such a test. “If I were an investor, I would want to feel comfortable that my thousands (or millions) of dollars are being used for something that has true medical merit,” he noted. Thomas said he expects the assay to be introduced by late 2015, pending the results of a second validation test. Whether it becomes endearing or just another test remains to be seen. Takeaway: A startup firm is making a bold move in marketing a laboratory-developed test.