Celestra Health Systems specializes in AI-powered software that helps monitor the progression of neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease by tracking changes in a patient’s gait.
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Bruce Ford occupies a privileged position among Ottawa entrepreneurs: if he wants advice from the man who’s probably done more to build the capital’s tech ecosystem than anyone else, he only has to walk a few steps.
“Terry Matthews is just down the hall here,” the co-founder and chief executive of Celestra Health Systems says of the billionaire business magnate, who is also his biggest investor.
Based in Kanata at Matthews’ venture capital firm, Wesley Clover International, Celestra specializes in AI-powered software that helps monitor the progression of neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease by tracking changes in a patient’s gait.
Like virtually all biotech ventures, the company wouldn’t be where it is today if its CEO and his team of neuroscientists and software engineers hadn’t taken a bit of a leap of faith.
After testing its software for nearly two years, Celestra was officially spun out of Wesley Clover International in May 2023.
Now, the startup appears to be on the verge of a breakthrough.
Results from seven clinical trials in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany have been encouraging, Ford says, and last Friday he received the news he’s been anxiously awaiting for months – a letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granting Celestra’s platform Class II medical device certification, meaning the company can now sell its products to clinicians in the U.S. for prescription use.
It’s the culmination of millions of dollars’ worth of research, development and testing and more than 12 months of discussions with FDA officials.
“It feels to me like we really have some wind in our sails,” says Ford, who earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Ottawa and began his tech career at Nortel in the late 1980s.
“Now we’re at the point where we’re going into, say, a neurology practice and saying, ‘We want you to use our platform for six to eight weeks.’ That’s the goal, and we know that we’re going to learn a lot once we get into the actual clinical practice environment.”
Celestra’s software analyzes nearly two dozen metrics related to how patients with multiple sclerosis walk, including their stride length and the amount of time both feet are on the ground.
Sensors embedded in the insoles of a person’s shoes collect data such as walking speed, direction and foot pressure to come up with a “gait signature.” The information is fed into Celestra’s cloud-based AI platform, which uses dozens of algorithms to assess a patient’s mobility on a 100-point scale that can be updated in real time.
Ford explains that changes in gait are considered highly reliable indicators of whether a multiple sclerosis patient’s condition is improving or worsening. He says studies indicate Celestra’s technology can spot such differences months earlier than current methods of tracking the progression of MS, which typically involve neurologists checking in with patients once or twice a year and timing them as they walk a specific distance.
Trials for Parkinson's patients
The company is now hoping to launch clinical trials in 2025 that will test the platform on people with Parkinson’s disease.
Ford says no one expects the technology to be the be-all and end-all for monitoring disorders such as MS and Parkinson’s. Clinicians rely on a “suite” of markers to track the severity of the diseases, he says, including blood tests and data from MRIs.
But he believes Celestra’s “gait lab in a shoe” can become an important tool to help clinicians determine if patients are on the right treatment plans.
“Our objective … is that we want to become the gold standard globally in neurology clinics,” he says.
Ford also expects major pharmaceutical companies to take a keen interest in the software.
“They don’t have good markers that allow them to prove that their drug is working, and that’s a problem,” he explains.
Now at eight full-time employees with another eight part-timers on the payroll, Celestra is starting to make a name for itself beyond the medical environment.
Last month, Ford took home first prize in the SaaS North pitchfest at Rogers Centre Ottawa, beating out seven other tech founders from across Canada for the $10,000 cash award, which was voted on by the audience.
“For me, it was validation that we have a really compelling narrative,” he says. “It’s one thing to have a story, but as a tech company, it’s the execution of the story that’s the hard part.
“In the big scheme of things, we’re a young company. We have a long road ahead of us.”
Still, the company keeps taking steps forward. After years of shelling out money to test its products, Celestra has finally started bringing in some cash, including $185,000 from the U.K.’s National Health Service in October.
And now that the path has been cleared for the startup to sell its software south of the border, Ford hopes he’ll soon have more good news for his staunchest backer and most valued business mentor.
“(Matthews) asks me pretty much every week, ‘So, Bruce, what were revenues last month?’ knowing full well that we’re a startup,” Ford says with a chuckle. “Now, I can actually tell him.”
