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Winner Develops Smart Asthma Technology
HEALTHCARE
The Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California-Irvine brought 19 Israeli startup executives to Orange County to participate in its two-week U.S.-Israel Innovation Bridge Executive Leadership Program on medical devices last month.
"The business culture in the U.S. is different," said Paul Merage, who started the program 14 years ago. He said it's designed to help Israeli entrepreneurs understand the business culture differences and connect them to people and capital resources.
Merage is chainnan of MIG Companies in Newport Beach, a company he co-founded with his sons. He fonned Chef America with his brother, David, in the late 1970s, and sold the packaged food company, to Nestle in 2002 for $2.6 billion.
This year's winner is SmartAir Health, which develops a device that measures symptoms and triggers to predict and prevent asthma attacks. Chief Executive Uriel Klar, who received the $10,000 first place prize award from the school, is in the process of raising $800,000. Proceeds will help bring the product to market.
Several large pharmaceutical companies are also investing in the development of smart asthma inhalers, including...