Tasso

Tasso, Inc. is a Seattle, Washington-based healthcare technology company that develops clinical-grade blood collection devices designed to be used by patients themselves, outside of clinics and without phlebotomy or conventional venipuncture. Its devices attach to the upper arm (or lower back for some pediatric use) with an adhesive; pressing a button creates a vacuum and a lancet pierces the skin to draw capillary blood into a detachable sample container, a process the company describes as taking roughly two to three minutes and being virtually painless because the collection site has fewer nerve endings and no veins are pierced. Samples are shipped to a laboratory using a prepaid label for analysis.

The current product line includes Tasso+, a blood lancet that collects whole liquid blood samples and is compatible with multiple standard collection tubes, and Tasso Mini, a lancet aimed at longitudinal or higher-frequency sampling and sensitive populations. Both devices are FDA Class II lancet 510(k)-cleared. Tasso also sells assembled collection kits: Tasso+ Standard Kits and Tasso Mini Standard Kits for microliter capillary whole blood, and Tasso Mini T20 Kits that pair the Mini device with a Tile-T20 dried blood cartridge for four volumetrically controlled 17.5 µL dried blood samples (available for Research Use Only or Anti-Doping Use Only). Kits are FDA registered; collection reservoirs are not included. An earlier flagship product line was marketed as Tasso OnDemand.

Around the devices, Tasso operates an end-to-end logistics platform that supports shipping, live proctoring, SMS reminders and related patient-engagement services for decentralized clinical trials and remote testing programs. Applications marketed by the company include population pharmacokinetics, trial prescreening and pediatric research; pediatric applications are research use only, with commercial pediatric applications not currently supported. The company states its devices are cited in over 100 peer-reviewed publications and have been used in dozens of pediatric-focused clinical research trials involving participants from six months to 17 years of age.

Founding story

Tasso was co-founded by Ben Casavant and Erwin Berthier, both of whom hold PhDs in biomedical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; the Seattle Times reported the company was founded in 2011. The premise was that patients would prefer a push-button at-home collection device placed on the upper arm over a needle draw performed in a clinic.

Business model

Tasso sells blood collection devices and pre-assembled collection kits to pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, research organizations, government agencies and payers, and wraps them in an end-to-end logistics and patient-engagement service (shipping, live proctoring, SMS reminders) that routes samples from the patient to a laboratory. The company has also engaged in co-development deals with industry partners.

Revenue is generated from sales of collection devices and kits and associated logistics/services for research, pharma and healthcare programs, supplemented historically by government grants and co-development collaborations.

Traction

By July 2020 the company had grown from 12 to 35 employees since January of that year and anticipated reaching 100 later in the year; monthly kit production was about 1,000 at the start of the pandemic with an expectation of 150,000 per month by year end. Users have included the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, whose CovidWatch program asked volunteers to submit monthly blood samples via Tasso devices for antibody testing. The company states its devices have been used in dozens of pediatric-focused trials with thousands of participants and are cited in over 100 peer-reviewed publications. Cumulative funding reported was $38.6 million as of July 2020 and $131 million as of December 2021.

Latest developments

Tasso's current offering centers on the FDA 510(k)-cleared Tasso+ and Tasso Mini lancet devices, FDA-registered collection kits including Tasso Mini T20 dried blood kits using the Tile-T20 cartridge, and clinical trial solutions for population pharmacokinetics, prescreening and pediatrics. The leadership team includes CEO Ben Casavant, CTO Erwin Berthier, CFO Monica Williams and vice presidents for commercial, clinical affairs, manufacturing and operations, with a board chaired by Alan Levy that also includes Robert Epstein, Suzanne Foster, Betsy Hambrecht and Jeremy Lack of RA Capital.