Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of North Shore
Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
EP #81 - Dr. Anan Copty's Microchip Tumor Zapping: Non-Invasive, Side Effect-Free Cancer Treatment
What happens when a physicist from Intel Corporation decides to tackle cancer treatment? Dr. Anan Copty shares his remarkable journey from corporate security to founding Synergy Medical Devices, a startup developing non-invasive technology to destroy solid tumors without harming healthy tissue. After losing several friends to cancer, he left a stable career to pursue a solution that combines nanoparticles with electromagnetic energy, showing promising animal-trial results at Ohio State University where tumors disappeared within days with no scars or cosmetic damage. The company plans to enter the veterinary market this year before moving to human clinical trials, focusing on breast cancer and other superficial tumors.
Dr. Copty’s story is a testament to turning personal loss into purpose-driven innovation. He speaks candidly about the challenges of entrepreneurship—building a multidisciplinary team with limited resources, navigating uncertainty, and finding fulfillment in work that truly matters. Learn more about Synergy Med’s groundbreaking efforts at synergymed-ltd.com, or connect with Dr. Copty to explore collaborations, volunteer opportunities, or investment through their equity crowdfunding campaign.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Yuan Godfrey.
SPEAKER_01:Good morning. Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today I have the distinct pleasure of introducing to our listeners Dr. Anand Copti. He has a PhD in physics, and he is here to share with us information about Synergy Medical Devices. He is the founder and CEO of Synergy Medical Devices Incorporated, and we are eager and interested in listening to the service that he brings to the North Shore community. Dr. Anand, how are you this morning?
SPEAKER_02:Very good, thank you. How are you?
SPEAKER_01:Wonderful. I'm good, thank you, and thanks for asking. Can you please tell our listeners about your company?
SPEAKER_02:Great. So our company is Synergy Med is a medical device startup company that is developing a product to treat solid cancer tumors for human for humans and for veterinarians. The company at the moment has developed a product that is performing clinical trials on dogs at Ohio State University. And we're hoping to sell this device initially this year for the veteran market. And following that, we'll start our clinical trials for humans and eventually selling it for the human market. Our main focus for the human side of things is breast cancer.
SPEAKER_01:And what's the backstory? How did you get into this service, Dr. Copti?
SPEAKER_02:So it's a startup. I was basically an employee at Intel, Intel Corporation, you know, the company that makes these chips for the computers. I was there for uh 10 years, and towards the end of my work there, the last two years, I basically lost a few friends from cancer. And you know, having a background in physics and having uh you know worked at uh Harvard uh medical school in the past and other places where I developed uh medical technologies, I decided to to do something that makes more meaning to my life. So at Intel, I had a secure job, I uh but I was uh I was one in a hundred thousand employee. Uh so I wanted to have uh an influence, I wanted to make a difference in the world, and that's when I started thinking about doing something for cancer. So, like everybody else, as someone who's uh you know with a background in physics, what you would do is start uh reviewing papers and looking at the problem from a technical point of view. So I started reading lots and lots of papers, and and then I noticed that one of the main problems with cancer treatments is that it has side effects. Sometimes it treats not only the cancer tissue or the cancer cells, but the healthy ones as well. So um so I was trying to think about something that treats only the cancer tumor, does not leave any cosmetic uh damage, does not uh basically degrade the quality of life for patients. And that's when I started uh working about our non-invasive technology to treat solid cancer tumors. So uh what probably differentiates our technology from other uh uh other technologies or other companies is that it's a non-invasive technology, it treats tumors locally, so the tumor is damaged, but the healthy tissue remains intact. Um, so far we've tested this on mice and dogs, and we hope to test it on humans as well.
SPEAKER_01:I appreciate you walking us through that journey from losing friends and colleagues to cancer to where you are now. Thank you for sharing that.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:So, what are some myths or misconceptions that you've discovered in this journey?
SPEAKER_02:So, I think one of the main uh misconceptions about cancer treatment, you know, there a lot of people uh say things like, well, they should have known how to treat cancer by now. There's probably some kind of a conspiracy conspiracy theory that you know the pharma companies don't know what uh don't want us to know about, they want to sell their own products. You know, I'm not sure that there is a conspiracy theory or not, but what I do know is that cancer is a very complicated disease to treat. So a lot of a lot of the best people in the world are working towards finding a treatment for cancer or cure for cancer. So I I don't want to use you know terms like uh conspiracy because it does disservice for people like that. Maybe also from a religious point of view, uh, you know, God created us in a very complex uh way. So uh so to simplify things is basically undermining uh the way we've been created. So I I feel that you know we should be careful about you know using statements like conspiracy and things like that. What I uh wanted to point out in terms of our product, it's basically intended to treat cancer tumors locally. So it's not intended for cancer that has metastasized throughout the body, it's more like tumors that are at the initial stage, and instead of treating them surgically, where you would have to remove the tumor and sometimes parts of the body or that particular organ, you are treating it locally and destroying it without damaging the healthy tissue. So, with our uh tests that we've done on mice and then on dogs, we've seen that the tumor vanishes within a few days, and then there are no cosmetic damage, there are no scars. So, we're very excited about that. We're looking forward to taking that to the to the human level. I I don't want it to feel like this is the end of cancer. No, it's just uh basically uh uh a particular part of the treatment. So it's it's more intended to treat cancers at the early stages and for solid cancer tumors uh only, especially breast and superficial tumors like brain tumors, head and neck, uh uh skin tumors, etc.
SPEAKER_01:Doc Hopti, since you started in 2019, you've made great strides, and it sounds like you are making even more strides. Is that yes? Is that fair?
SPEAKER_02:Yes. Uh what I have to say about that is that it takes a village. It's not some, it's not your own thing alone. It's not that's it's something that you can do on your own. So over time, I had to uh recruit people in physics, electrical engineering, uh, mechanical engineering, biology, uh, medical sciences. Uh, you know, you you need uh a lot of different people with different backgrounds to do something like that. So uh so one of the things about making progress for a startup is knowing how to recruit those people, how to get them excited about what you're doing. And uh it's it's not easy, especially when you are a startup and you know, funding is an issue. Uh uh getting the most experienced people is an issue because of funding. So a lot of times uh you have to uh find out of the box ways to to develop that. And to and so it's good. It builds it it builds leadership skills, it builds excitement, and you're always sort of uh marketing your product and always trying to sell your ideas. So it's it's a different uh approach than just being in a big company where you're an engineer or a scientist and and just working on your particular project, and that's it. You have to go beyond that, you have to expand your horizons.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you're well on your way, and we're grateful for your vision and for what you've done so far. We're looking forward for this to come to a place where people are able to say, yes, it's possible that we can be can't cancer free. So the world, thank you. I thank you.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Outside of work, Dr. Copti, what do you do for fun?
SPEAKER_02:Well, I love spending time with the family, traveling. We we went to many different places around the world. Uh I like learning about new cultures, traditions. Uh sometimes if it's uh a low-key thing, maybe just going hiking in nature, you know, just being around the mountains, the trees, uh, playing my guitar, uh, DJing. I used to be, uh believe it or not, uh a DJ a while back. So I used to do weddings and things like that. So that was a fun part of my life dancing. Uh but sometimes I like to just have quiet times, you know, just be by myself with no noise, nothing. That could also be something very fun to do.
SPEAKER_01:Meditation is good, reflection is good. Thank you for sharing. So, changing gears, can you describe one hardship or one of life's challenges that you rose above? And can I say that because of that, you're better, you're stronger. What comes to your mind?
SPEAKER_02:So I think the first thing that comes to my mind, you know, there everybody experiences many hardships, and the longer you're on this planet, the more you experience, and and but that always helps you grow. I think uh one of the things that I'd like to share is when I actually left my secure job at Intel, you know, uh, and then went into these this uh startup world, into entrepreneurship. Uh I mean everybody around me said, you're crazy, you're leaving a secure job, you're uh you have a family, you know, you have a wife and two kids, there's you have big responsibilities. This is uh uh you know not the wisest thing to do. And to be honest, they're right, they're absolutely right. But uh sometimes you have to do what your heart tells you to do. And you know, when I saw when I lost people uh from cancer, friends of mine, and I felt like I can make a difference, uh that's when I went on that track. That now there was a lot of things to learn. I was never an entrepreneur, I didn't have a lot of the business skills, but I developed all of that. Now I I developed it to a point where I actually teach entrepreneurship courses at uh you know colleges or or for or privately for people. Uh but but initially to get to that level where you've been tech technical your whole life uh was a big big challenge. I'm happy that I took this decision because I'm developing something I believe strongly in. And I'm you know, uh it it it makes a big difference when you're doing something that has uh a meaning to your life, or you're just feeling like, okay, I'm working Monday through Friday and praying for the weekend and hoping for the best, and you know, the salary is great, and and that will make me shut up and just do what I need to do. When you're an entrepreneur, it's a lot more than that. You're doing something that is bigger than you, and uh, and being part of this is is a really beautiful feeling, but I don't recommend it for everybody. It's very, very hard. It's not uh picnic, and you have to think that if this is really is uh if this is something that really matches who you are and and what your your aspirations are.
SPEAKER_01:You're right. It's not an easy choice to make to drop security for something that's has no security. It's a big undertaking.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:Um, Dr. Anand, can you please tell our listeners um one thing that they should remember about Synergy Med Devices Incorporated?
SPEAKER_02:Uh I think uh the main message, as I mentioned before, is that this is a multidisciplinary uh process. You have to bring people from all kinds of uh backgrounds to make something like this happen. And uh this uh I mean that's the reason also why we call the company Synergy Med. We actually use combination of nanoparticles and electromagnetic energy in the form of microwaves and radio frequency that non-invasively heats and destroys the tumor. So so this requires uh uh you know uh putting all these things together uh and uh and uh really being very, very, very focused. Uh so um what I my message to people if they want to become part of this, if they feel that they they have the uh capability, if they're they work in some research hospital or some veterinary hospital, or they want to volunteer, please reach out to me and uh and I'm happy to share more and discuss that that with you as well. Uh if they want to contribute or actually invest in our company, we have uh we have an equity-based crowdfunding campaign on on a platform called WeFunder. So you go to weFunder.com slash synergimed and uh and you can actually make an investment if you like.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you. And how can our listeners um learn more about your service? Do you have a website? Do you have a platform?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, so other than the wefunder.com slash synergimed, which has a lot of information, there's a website also called uh synergimed-ltd.com. That's uh the main website, or they can reach out to me directly at anand.copy. So anand is an a-n dot c o-p-ty at synergymed-ltd.com. So this way they can reach to me directly and I'm happy to uh speak with them or write back.
SPEAKER_01:Beautiful. Dr. Anon Copti, we really appreciate you being on the show with us today. We wish you and Synergy Med Device Incorporated all the very best moving forward.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you. It's a pleasure to be with you today. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpnorthore.com. That's gnpnorthore.com or call 857 703 9406.