JumpStart announces investment commitment of $250,000 in Checkpoint Surgical

JumpStart Inc., the Northeast Ohio venture development organization that accelerates the progress of high growth early-stage businesses, announced a JumpStart Ventures investment commitment of $250,000 in Checkpoint Surgical, LLC. A spinout of NDI Medical, the Highland Hills, OH medical device company is developing and commercializing a surgical handheld disposable nerve stimulator.

Nerve stimulators are used to locate, identify, and confirm motor nerve function and help surgeons avoid nerve damage during surgical procedures. Checkpoint Surgical's device, called the CHECKPOINT® Stimulator/Locator, combines the broad functionality of traditional console-based devices with the convenience and control of a handheld device.

"Right now, there is no device on the market that combines the broad functionality of console-based devices with the control of a handheld device," said Lee Poseidon, the JumpStart Venture Partner who will be working with the company. "Checkpoint Surgical has several patents pending around the use of a safe, biphasic current, handheld device with broad, adjustable stimulus parameters, which will give their product competitive advantage."

"The CHECKPOINT® Stimulator/Locator is an important tool that helps surgeons quickly and reliably locate nerves and evaluate nerve function during surgery. With the aid of our tool, physicians can make surgical decisions with confidence. It also allows surgeons to reliably confirm and document nerve integrity at the conclusion of surgery," said Len Cosentino, Chief Executive Officer of Checkpoint Surgical. "JumpStart's funding will help support our pilot launch effort that will demonstrate market acceptance and provide other useful market data over the next few months leading up to a full commercial launch in mid 2010."

This is JumpStart Ventures' 54th investment in its 41st company. Other healthcare companies in JumpStart Ventures' portfolio include AnalizaDx, CardioInsight Technologies, CerviLenz, Freedom Meditech, Great Lakes Pharmaceuticals, Juventas Therapeutics, Neuros Medical, Synapse Biomedical, Tursiop Technologies, and VasoLux MicroSystems.