It's odd to think of a 20-year-old company as a start-up. But after two decades of selling most of its products to research labs instead of lucrative clinical markets, Neuro Kinetics Inc. is much like one.

	Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette Vince Kytka, of Neuro Kinetics. demonstrates the company's I-Portal 3-D video oculography system, which measures involuntary eye movement -- the key indicator of balance disorders. Click photo for larger image.

The company, founded in 1983 and based in O'Hara, earlier this month shipped the first commercial version of its rotary chair system, which tests people for balance disorders, to London's Great Ormond Street Hospital. All of its previous balance-testing systems were custom-designed for specific research purposes, such as ones the National Aeronautics and Space Administration used to simulate motion astronauts would experience in space.

Now, after developing its own patented digital motor that's quieter and more precise than motors it had been using from an outside vendor, the company is gearing up to tap an estimated $300 million worldwide clinical market for rotary chairs. "From our standpoint," the chair that was shipped to London marks the company's "first repeatable, commercial product," said Neuro Kinetics President J. Howison Schroeder. "That chair will be built many times again."

Neuro Kinetics' plans don't stop there. It also is going after a piece of the estimated $1 billion worldwide market for systems that track involuntary eye movement, the key indicator of balance disorders. Its patented, portable, video oculography system combines goggles and a tiny attached digital camera whose images feed into a laptop computer, driven by proprietary software. The eye-tracking instruments can be used with the Neuro Kinetics rotary chair or other systems that stimulate the delicate vestibular system of the inner ear, helping people keep their balance.

Neuro Kinetics' planned assault on clinical markets is pegged to balance problems many elderly people suffer without knowing the cause. An aging population is expected to propel the costs of medical treatment for injuries related to falls to $32 billion a year within the next 15 years, with half of that related to balance disorders, Schroeder said.

Congress in 2002 acted to stem some of those projected costs by passing the Elderly Fall Prevention Act. The new law, which provides funding for research, education and new therapies, is expected to raise the public's awareness of visibility to balance problems and expand the market for testing.

Although the clinical market might be poised for expansion, it isn't new. Demand for balance testing equipment among health-care institutions and diagnostic clinics began growing in the mid-1990s, just as Neuro Kinetics founder Jan Parmentier became terminally ill, Schroeder said.

Parmentier, an engineer, had started the company as a unit of Contraves AG, when balance researchers familiar with the Swiss conglomerate's expertise in making motors for radar detection and weapons systems sought the company's help in developing testing equipment.

After Parmentier's death in 1996, Neuro Kinetics continued catering largely to research customers, while competitors Micromedical Technologies in Chatham, Ill., and ICS Medical in Schaumberg, Ill., moved into clinical markets. Their products were less expensive than the O'Hara company's but weren't as technologically sophisticated, Schroeder said.

Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette Neuro Kinetics President J. Howison Schroeder demonstrates the company's rotary chair system, which tests people for balance disorders. Click photo for larger image.

Without a share of the clinical market, Neuro Kinetics foundered under the management of an investment group that held the largest stake in it. Confident that the business had potential, however, Parmentier's widow acquired control and enlisted consultants to search for a top manager who could recapitalize the company and help it pursue new opportunities.

That's when Schroeder, a former banker who held posts at J.P. Morgan & Co. and Mellon Bank, stepped in. He already had left banking to become involved in two turnarounds, one with a filtration equipment company his family had sold, Leetsdale-based Schroeder Industries Inc., and another with a small, New England medical products company. Schroeder's next goal was to run a small tech company in Pittsburgh when he linked up with Neuro Kinetics to become president in September 2002.

From his standpoint, Neuro Kinetics was an opportunity in the making.

The first mission was to develop competitive products that could be sold to the larger clinical market. To help, he hired engineer Alex Kiderman as chief technology officer. Within 15 months, the company had secured its patents.

The market for treating balance disorders is at the top of Schroeder's agenda now. He expects Neuro Kinetics' sales to hit $2 million this year and is targeting $60 million in five years.

Schroeder said the company should be able to lure clinical customers away from competitors because its rotary chair has a technological edge, but sells for the same price -- roughly $60,000 and up, depending on features -- as their competitors' products.

The video oculography system has even more unit volume potential, he said. That's partly because its price -- roughly $10,000 -- is less than some competing products and because, Schroeder added, it offers some clinical advantages.

Schroeder said a competitor already has approached the company about purchasing the patented motor for its own rotary chairs or at least contracting with Neuro Kinetics to supply private label versions of the system.

But even as it broadens into commercial markets, Neuro Kinetics has no plan to abandon its core research customer base, Schroeder said.

While the custom work Neuro Kinetics does for them doesn't boast the growth potential of clinical markets, it does keep the company on the cutting edge of its field, enhances its credibility with clinical customers and remains a captive opportunity, he said. "That's where the ideas are."