Ditch News
From us to you, our latest news.
Ditch Labs Appoints Moishe Liberman, MD, PhD, FACS, FRCSC, as Chief Medical Officer
Ditch Labs, Inc. is honored to appoint Dr. Moishe Liberman as Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Dr. Liberman is a minimally invasive thoracic surgeon trained at Harvard University who has run over 40 clinical trials at the CHUM Research Center over the last 13 years in Thoracic Surgical Oncology.
MONTREAL, QC/March 23, 2022 – Ditch Labs, Inc. is honored to appoint Dr. Moishe Liberman as Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Dr. Liberman is a minimally invasive thoracic surgeon trained at Harvard University who has run over 40 clinical trials at the CHUM Research Center over the last 13 years in Thoracic Surgical Oncology.
“It is a pleasure to be joining Ditch Labs’ stellar team to participate in developing such an innovative and revolutionary system. Seeing firsthand the consequences of tobacco use and the unmet needs caused by the lack of effective treatments, I am deeply motivated to contribute to the new paradigm that Ditch is creating in smoking cessation.”
- Dr. Moishe Liberman, Chief Medical Officer at Ditch Labs
Some of the responsibilities assumed by Dr. Liberman will be strategic supervision of the company’s medical and clinical affairs, including aiding in recruitment of various partners, establishing the corporation’s scientific advisory board and key opinion leadership and supporting in the design, planning and execution of clinical trials.
“Since the beginning, one of Ditch’s missions is to bring together the brightest minds to solve the leading cause of preventable death. The appointment of Dr. Liberman as CMO marks an important step in building a solid executive team, bringing us closer to reaching our first clinical milestone by the end of the year.”
- Laurent Laferrière, Co-Founder and CEO at Ditch Labs
As Ditch prepares for its First In Human study, the company looks forward to working alongside such a renowned physician with direct access to valuable resources and patients in dire need of effective smoking cessation treatments.
Ditch Partners With The CRIQ, Investissement Québec's World-Renowned Laboratory, For Nonclinical Testing
MONTREAL, QC/January, 2022 – Ditch Labs, Inc.’s partnership with the CRIQ led by Research Director and Partner Christelle Luce, Co-Founder and CTO Olivier Bourbonnais and Pharmacologist Mehdi El Hassani, will serve the objective of characterizing the aerosol generated by the DitchPen™.
MONTREAL, QC/January, 2022 – Ditch Labs, Inc.’s partnership with the CRIQ led by Research Director and Partner Christelle Luce, Co-Founder and CTO Olivier Bourbonnais and Pharmacologist Mehdi El Hassani, will serve the objective of characterizing the aerosol generated by the DitchPen™. The company intends to present a toxicology report to the FDA and Health Canada in order to receive a Clinical Trial Authorization (Health Canada) and an Investigational New Drug approval (FDA).
Ditch Labs Receives Funding From The National Research Council's IRAP Program
Following the partnership between Ditch Labs, Inc. and the CRIM along with professional recommendations, the company’s application for the non-dilutive funding of the National Research Council’s IRAP program is now approved.
MONTREAL, QC/December, 2021 – Following the partnership between Ditch Labs, Inc. and the CRIM along with professional recommendations, the company’s application for the non-dilutive funding of the National Research Council’s IRAP program is now approved. These additional funds will finance the fees of the CRIM researchers.
Ditch Partners Up With The Computer Research Institute of Montréal (CRIM) To Develop Its Treatment Algorithms
The partnership of Ditch Labs, Inc. with the CRIM to develop its treatment algorithms led by Research Director and Partner Christelle Luce, Co-Founder and CTO Olivier Bourbonnais, Software Director Étienne Bélanger and Researcher Gabrielle Toupin, will strengthen the cybersecurity of its solutions.
MONTREAL, QC/December, 2021 – The partnership of Ditch Labs, Inc. with the CRIM to develop its treatment algorithms led by Research Director and Partner Christelle Luce, Co-Founder and CTO Olivier Bourbonnais, Software Director Étienne Bélanger and Researcher Gabrielle Toupin, will strengthen the cybersecurity of its solutions and allow the company to develop algorithms based on the data it collects from the DitchPen™ and from the DitchApp™, among other important aspects.
Ditch Opens Up New Headquarters In Montreal
Ditch Labs, Inc. opens up new headquarters located on Prince Arthur Street in Montreal following a virtual staff growth from 3 to 15 employees during the pandemic.
MONTREAL, QC/September, 2021 – Ditch Labs, Inc. opens up new headquarters located on Prince Arthur Street in Montreal following a virtual staff growth from 3 to 15 employees during the pandemic. The offices will include electronic, server and computational laboratories to serve all research and hardware initiatives. This new location will allow proximity to all downtown activities along with more accessibility for staff and team collaborators.
Ditch Joins The CTS Incubator, The Growth Accelerator For Healthcare Technology
Ditch Labs, Inc. officially joins the CTS incubator specialized in innovative healthcare technology and digital health solutions to secure initial financing to launch commercialization.
MONTREAL, QC/June, 2021 – Ditch Labs, Inc. officially joins the CTS incubator specialized in innovative healthcare technology and digital health solutions to secure initial financing to launch commercialization. This collaboration enables the introduction to strategic partners and investors, as well as access to high-quality mentorship and non-dilutive funding opportunities.
Smoking Cessation Startup Ditch Labs Completes $1.3 Million Pre-Seed Round to Solve Nicotine Addiction and Tobacco Use
Ditch Labs, a Montreal-based precision medicine company, is developing a new smoking cessation system and just completed a $ 1.3 million round of funding.
MONTREAL, June 17, 2021 — Ditch Labs, a Montreal-based precision medicine company, is developing a new smoking cessation system and just completed a $1.3 million round of funding.
From left to right: Olivier Bourbonnais (co-founder & CTO), Laurent Laferriere (co-founder & CEO), Christelle Luce, PhD (Partner & Director of Research)
The Montreal-based startup closed a pre-seed round in May 2021 with the participation of Amplify Capital, Desjardins Capital, Boreal Ventures, Anges Québec, Formentera Capital, the Healthcare innovation arm of Symphony Care Network, along with renowned tech entrepreneurs such as Cherif Habib (CEO of Dialogue) and Simon de Beane (CEO of GSoft), among others.
Addressing a huge unmet need
Smoking is still to this day the leading cause of preventable death with 1 out of every 5 deaths directly related to tobacco use. Even though over two thirds of smokers want to quit according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average quit success rate has been hovering around 7% without showing any sign of improvement.
“Part of the problem is that current smoking cessation products seek to treat a very complex addiction with a one-size-fits-all approach. Ditch is the first solution to adapt its treatment in real-time, based on craving intensity and behavioral feedback.”
The Ditch solution
Founded by Laurent Laferrière and Olivier Bourbonnais, two serial entrepreneurs, Ditch Labs offers a revolutionary smoking cessation solution by developing the DitchPen™, a patent-pending medical vaporizer that precisely doses the quantity of nicotine administered, in order to reduce it automatically in a gradual and personalized way. The medical device is paired with a mobile application that uses machine learning algorithms to learn, adapt and act as a behavioural assistant throughout the withdrawal process.
The DitchPen™ and its mobile application.
“The DitchPen™ is the meeting point between artificial intelligence technology and nicotine replacement therapy. Nicotine addiction is an intricate disease linked to psychological, social and biological factors. Each cessation journey is unique and the tools to achieve abstinence must take every factor into account. The use of the Ditch system represents a new paradigm of cessation support based on a dynamic, progressive and personalized program.”
The capital injection will allow the company to pursue preclinical studies, advance its global regulatory plan and further product and algorithm development. The company plans to market a first version of the DitchPen™ in the UK in 2022 and in Canada in 2024, following a rigorous regulatory process to approve the DitchPen™ as an aid to smoking cessation.
“Amplify Capital is excited to partner with Laurent Laferrière, Olivier Bourbonnais and the stellar team at Ditch on its mission to reduce nicotine addiction at scale by providing a device, data, behavioral support and insights to drastically improve smoking cessation rates beyond current methods which haven’t changed in decades. The impact of quitting smoking has benefits to the individual, their families, their workplace, their communities and society that can reduce costs and improve health as a whole.”