Full story at http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/6825284.htm

PERSONAL CRISES BROUGHT 3 BAY AREA FIRMS TO LIFE
When illness leads to innovation
By Michele Chandler

San Jose Mercury News
9/21/2003

Entrepreneur Paul Lovoi of Saratoga was pushing ahead with his latest
company, which is developing a device to treat people with a condition
that causes blindness. Then, in March, tragedy hit.

His wife of 26 years, Janice, died suddenly after a weakened artery in
her brain burst. At his wife's wake, Lovoi vowed to their friends that
he would find an easy way for others to detect life-threatening
hemorrhagic strokes before it's too late.

[ . . .]

Few inventors create medical devices because an up-close calamity
pushes them. They face the same hurdles as other entrepreneurs:
needing experience, documenting a void in the market and getting cash.

``Most people who have a personal tragedy aren't adept enough to start
a medical device company. They don't have the right background or
training. It's a special situation to end up there,'' said Casey
McGlynn, a San Jose attorney and prolific fixer of medical device
deals in the Valley.

On average, it takes five years and tens of millions of dollars to get
a would-be device from the drawing board to everyday use -- if the
Food and Drug Administration gives its approval. And these days,
venture capital firms are skittish about putting their money on
ingenue developers. They favor business plans, market analysis and
sales projections above emotion and personal drive to make a
difference.

Perhaps they should consider those other factors, said Patrick Lynn,
co-founder of Palo Alto's Rinat Neuroscience.

``Often times, people can make up for that with the passion derived
from their personal experience. You don't count them out,'' said Lynn,
who has both founded and invested in young health care companies.

Here's a look at three Bay Area firms started by entrepreneurs whose
personal crises served as a springboard to invention:

[diabetes content omitted]

MONITORING ASTHMA

Asthma dictated life for Rajiv Parikh as a boy. He vividly recalls the
wheezing, the inhalers and an ill-fated vacation to India at age 10
spent riding on his father's shoulders because he couldn't catch his
breath in the pollution and heat.

Parikh eventually outgrew the condition. Today, along with his wife,
Bhairavi, he's developing a breath analysis device to enable
asthmatics to monitor their airway inflammation so they can take the
appropriate medicine and ward off a full-blown asthma attack.

It's the first start-up company for Parikh and Bhairavi, who founded
Aperon Biosystems two years ago. While they lack prior experience
bringing a business online, they both have credentials -- Rajiv earned
an MBA from Harvard University, while Bhairavi received a doctorate in
biomedical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in
Massachusetts.

In early 2001, Rajiv had his sights set on founding a wireless
company. Bhairavi had a job doing research and development for Natus
Medical, a San Carlos maker of products to detect common disorders in
newborns. One device under development there screened babies for
jaundice by analyzing the infant's breath.

Bhairavi had done related research involving gas analysis while
working on her doctoral thesis. She saw potential for using that
technology to detect lung inflammation experienced by asthmatics. So,
in 2001, the couple licensed the gas analysis technology from its
inventors -- two UCLA physicians -- and founded Aperon.

``She had worked on this back in her days as a Ph.D., and I had the
personal experience'' with asthma, Rajiv said. ``I don't know if it
was fate or faith, but it worked very well together.''

The couple set up a small shop in Santa Clara and began lab
experiments, bankrolled with $100,000 from the couple's savings, plus
$200,000 loaned by family and friends.

One venture capital firm turned down Aperon's funding request. But
representatives there put the Parikhs in touch with John Kaiser, a
retired executive who had also headed a Sunnyvale start-up. Kaiser
became Aperon's CEO late last year.

In May, the company received $4.6 million from two venture funds. So
far, the money has been used for a larger office in Palo Alto, to hire
staff and to develop a prototype device.

``The intent today is to build a great company that helps lots of
people,'' Rajiv Parikh said.

[aneurysms content omitted]