SafKan Closes Additional Funding to Modernize Ear Cleaning Procedure

Every year approximately 12 million people in the United States visit their physicians for cerumen (earwax) removal. While entrepreneurs and researchers have made innovative improvements to other procedures and surgeries, ear irrigation, the most common process for removing cerumen from patients’ ears, has remained in the medical stone age.

Doctors perform ear irrigation by using a large syringe to squirt water into patients’ ears. Eventually, excess earwax is removed, but as you might imagine, the operation can take time.

In the end, physicians end up losing time and money because the method for removing cerumen hasn’t improved or changed in close to 200 years.

To solve this problem and bring ear cleaning into the 21st century, brothers Sahil and Aadil Diwan co-founded SafKan. The company, which participated in the Fall 2018 Dreamit HealthTech cohort, has developed a medical device called the SafKan OtoSet.

The OtoSet safely and efficiently removes cerumen by first sprinkling a mixture of warm water and hydrogen peroxide into a person’s ear. At the same time, the device suctions the water and cerumen to expel it completely.

After just 35 seconds, a patient painlessly has clean ears thanks to the SafKan OtoSet.

Not only does the device improve the patient experience, but it also saves physicians’ time. While a doctor has to perform ear irrigation procedures, a nurse or physician assistant can administer the SafKan OtoSet.

In April 2018, SafKan announced it had closed a $1M round of funding to bring the OtoSet to market.

This past week, Genesis Innovation Group’s cultivate(MD), a venture fund focused on investing in medical device startups, disclosed it had come on board as SafKan’s newest investor.

With the additional funding, SafKan will continue its work to secure 510(k) clearance, build its initial inventory, and begin commercialization.