Pioneering In The Emerging Field Of Digital Therapeutics - Scott Xiao : 17

“I won't say that we had this all planned out because when I started, it was just a crazy idea that we were excited about, but it ended up working out really well where we're trying to create a new class of medicine with digital therapeutics or with prescription digital therapeutics.” Scott Xiao, Co-Founder and CEO, Luminopia.
What’s possible when you think about leveraging technology to drastically improve a condition that hasn’t seen innovation or adaptation to the standard of care in 30-40 years?
If your name is Scott Xiao, the answer is launching a biotech company called Luminopia where children between the ages of 4-7 years old can now overcome suppression in their visual cortex without having to wear an eye patch or utilize atrophy drops. Through virtual reality, Luminopia treats amblyopia, commonly known as lazy eye–the leading cause of vision loss in young adults. One and a half years ago, Luminopia received FDA approval and now has their sights set on serving patients outside of the U.S. 
In Episode 17 of the Emerging Biotech Leader podcast, Kim, Ramin and Scott discuss how a small and mighty team of 5-6 people made it through to commercialization while addressing an unmet need and creating a new class of medicine.  On The Team’s Mantra Going Into ThisScott started off as an undergraduate at Harvard with no prior experience in biotech. By all accounts, he has now made it past several critical inflection points and Luminopia’s impact is multiplying. Scott and his team have secured partnerships with the leading pediatric Ophthalmologists, media companies such as Sesame Street and notable investors. 
But how did all of this come to be? Scott had a close friend who experienced amblyopia and through this friend, learned that the standard of care for amblyopia is an eye patch.
“One of our mantras going into this whole endeavor was ‘we can't take technology and go out looking for a problem to tackle.’ You're never going to be successful with that approach. So it was more about, ‘hey, we realize that there's an unmet need in this very prevalent condition.’ We realized that technology, specifically VR, can actually have an impact. Let's go out there and build something to make a better treatment.”
Scott and his team knew they were onto something big when they took their initial prototype to Dr. David Hunter, the chief of Ophthalmology at Boston Children's Hospital. “He was kind enough to take the meeting and spent a whole hour with us. And he was the one that really said, ‘Look, you're on to something.’”
By then, Scott felt confident that his technology could enable a new modality and treatment that wasn’t previously possible. As Kim puts it: this also wasn’t a matter of taking baby steps, or making a small improvement for the condition. “This was a leapfrog effect. How did you deduce that you were ready to take this on?” 
On Building A Biotech: Which Way Should You Operate Scott is the first to admit, although this was a “simple decision”--it hasn’t been a straight path. While the benefits of Luminopia’s technology were clear given their targeted, immersive manner, there were clinical trials to be had, FDA approval to be obtained and challenges to overcome. 
“Although we are a small but mighty team, we had the support and guidance and worked with people who had done this before.” 
One of the key areas Scott sought guidance on was Regulatory. 
Listen to the episode for Scott’s quick story on meeting the Head of Luminopia’s clinical team and how he, (Scott), crash coursed his way through learning the ins and outs of a feasibility analysis. 
As you’ve heard from other guests on the podcast, Scott had many stakeholders to