RefloDx Closes $2 Million Seed Round to Advance Noninvasive Testing for Chronic Throat and Voice Symptoms

October 23, 2026

Funding supports development and multi-center clinical validation of SondeFlux™, a wearable ultrasound device designed to give physicians objective evidence of upper-esophageal reflux

NORTH SALT LAKE, Utah, October 19, 2026 — RefloDx, Inc., a Utah medical device company specializing in noninvasive at-home testing, today announced the completion of its $2 million seed round financing. The financing will fund development and clinical validation of SondeFlux™, a noninvasive wearable device designed to detect stomach contents that reflux into the upper esophagus.

Each year, an estimated 15–25 million people in the United States^1–4 see a physician for persistent throat and voice symptoms such as chronic cough, hoarseness, throat clearing, difficulty swallowing, or the feeling of a lump in the throat. While laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) is a principal cause, a majority of patients plagued by these symptoms have complaints arising from non-LPR conditions.^5–12

Clinical consensus now strongly recommends objective evidence of reflux before putting patients on long-term drug treatment.^5,6,13,14 Current best testing relies on invasive catheters placed through the nose and down the throat, is poorly tolerated, and is available to fewer than 5 percent of patients.^{15,16,19–21} As a result, the vast majority of patients with symptoms are treated empirically with medication, which can delay reaching the right diagnosis and adds substantial cost. The estimated 2026 U.S. healthcare expense to work up symptoms and treat LPR is $70 billion.^17,18

“Millions of patients with chronic throat and voice symptoms can’t get objective reflux test results today, so most are treated on a presumption,” said Gregory Critchfield, M.D., M.S., chair and CEO of RefloDx. “This financing round enables us to complete development and validate a comfortable, noninvasive way to give doctors and patients the answers that they need. Patients who have reflux can be treated promptly and those without it can avoid medications they don’t need. Our strategy has the potential to revolutionize the workup of symptomatic patients, improve health and eliminate billions in wasteful expense.”

Investors and funds in the completed $2 million round include Crocker Ventures, Wild Tree Ventures, Convoi Ventures, Nucleus Fund, Park City Angels, and TransAtlantic Angels, along with sophisticated individual investors. All investors in the round have been notified that the financing is complete. Proceeds from this financing will be used to complete device and algorithm development and to conduct a multi-center clinical development and blinded validation study.

RefloDx’s scientific and clinical collaborators include highly respected laryngologists, gastroenterologists, and speech-language pathologists at the University of Utah, Mass General Brigham/Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Medical College of Wisconsin, and others. RefloDx plans to accelerate the development phase of the study during the fourth quarter of 2026, with blinded validation data expected in 2027. Successful completion of the validation is intended to support a future FDA marketing pathway submission, pursuit of procedure codes for reimbursement, and, after FDA authorization, commercial launch.

About RefloDx, Inc.

RefloDx, Inc. is a Utah medical device company developing SondeFlux™, a patented noninvasive ultrasound device intended to detect refluxed material in the proximal esophagus. The company’s aim is to make the workup of chronic throat and voice symptoms faster, more efficient, and less wasteful, so patients with objective laryngopharyngeal reflux evidence can be more promptly identified and so that patients without it are not exposed to medications they do not need. Learn more at www.reflodx.com.

About SondeFlux™

SondeFlux™ is a noninvasive wearable device that uses ultrasound to detect stomach contents refluxing into the upper esophagus. RefloDx is developing and validating SondeFlux to give physicians objective evidence of reflux early in the evaluation of chronic throat and voice symptoms. The goal is to help patients with reflux receive timely, appropriate treatment and to help patients without it reach the right diagnosis sooner, without exposure to medications they don’t need. SondeFlux is an investigational device. It has not been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is not commercially available.

Forward-looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements about clinical studies, regulatory submissions, reimbursement, and intended use. SondeFlux is investigational. Actual results may differ. RefloDx undertakes no obligation to update these statements except as required by law.

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References

Superscripts in the release refer to the numbered works below, in order of first appearance. Works that support more than one statement are cited once and reused. Selection notes for each statement begin on the following page. PubMed identifiers are given where the work is indexed.

1. Koufman JA. Laryngopharyngeal reflux is different from classic gastroesophageal reflux disease. Ear Nose Throat J. 2002;81(9 Suppl 2):7-9. PMID: 12353431.
2. Ford CN. Evaluation and management of laryngopharyngeal reflux. JAMA. 2005;294(12):1534-1540. doi:10.1001/jama.294.12.1534. PMID: 16189367.
3. Koufman JA. The otolaryngologic manifestations of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD): a clinical investigation of 225 patients using ambulatory 24-hour pH monitoring and an experimental investigation of the role of acid and pepsin in the development of laryngeal injury. Laryngoscope. 1991;101(4 Pt 2 Suppl 53):1-78. doi:10.1002/lary.1991.101.s53.1. PMID: 1895864.
4. Kuo CL. Laryngopharyngeal reflux: an update. Arch Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2019;3(1). doi:10.24983/scitemed.aohns.2019.00094. Not indexed in PubMed; cited from the SciTeMed record used in the commercialization-plan bibliography.
5. Lechien JR, Vaezi MF, Chan WW, et al. The Dubai definition and diagnostic criteria of laryngopharyngeal reflux: the IFOS consensus. Laryngoscope. 2024;134(4):1614-1624. doi:10.1002/lary.31134. PMID: 37929860.
6. Yadlapati R, Weissbrod P, Walsh E, et al. The San Diego consensus for laryngopharyngeal symptoms and laryngopharyngeal reflux disease. Am J Gastroenterol. 2026;121(2):322-336. doi:10.14309/ajg.0000000000003482. PMID: 40197644.
7. Lien HC, Lee PH, Wang CC. Diagnosis of laryngopharyngeal reflux: past, present, and future—a mini-review. Diagnostics (Basel). 2023;13(9):1643. doi:10.3390/diagnostics13091643. PMID: 37175034.
8. Belafsky PC, Postma GN, Koufman JA. Validity and reliability of the reflux symptom index (RSI). J Voice. 2002;16(2):274-277. doi:10.1016/s0892-1997(02)00097-8. PMID: 12150372.
9. Belafsky PC, Postma GN, Koufman JA. The validity and reliability of the reflux finding score (RFS). Laryngoscope. 2001;111(8):1313-1317. doi:10.1097/00005537-200108000-00001. PMID: 11568561.
10. Sylvester DC, Karkos PD, Vaughan C, et al. Chronic cough, reflux, postnasal drip syndrome, and the otolaryngologist. Int J Otolaryngol. 2012;2012:564852. doi:10.1155/2012/564852. PMID: 22988489.
11. Lechien JR, Bock JM, Carroll TL, Akst LM. Is empirical treatment a reasonable strategy for laryngopharyngeal reflux? A contemporary review. Clin Otolaryngol. 2020;45(4):450-458. doi:10.1111/coa.13518. PMID: 32097534.
12. Salgado S, Borges LF, Cai JX, Lo WK, Carroll TL, Chan WW. Symptoms classically attributed to laryngopharyngeal reflux correlate poorly with pharyngeal reflux events on multichannel intraluminal impedance testing. Dis Esophagus. 2022;36(1):doac041. doi:10.1093/dote/doac041. PMID: 35780323.
13. Gyawali CP, Yadlapati R, Fass R, et al. Updates to the modern diagnosis of GERD: Lyon consensus 2.0. Gut. 2024;73(2):361-371. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2023-330616. PMID: 37734911.
14. Katz PO, Dunbar KB, Schnoll-Sussman FH, Greer KB, Yadlapati R, Spechler SJ. ACG clinical guideline for the diagnosis and management of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Am J Gastroenterol. 2022;117(1):27-56. doi:10.14309/ajg.0000000000001538. PMID: 34807007.
15. Lechien JR. Clinical update findings about pH-impedance monitoring features in laryngopharyngeal reflux patients. J Clin Med. 2022;11(11):3158. doi:10.3390/jcm11113158. PMID: 35683545.
16. Lechien JR, Allen JE, Barillari MR, et al. Management of laryngopharyngeal reflux around the world: an international study. Laryngoscope. 2021;131(5):E1589-E1597. doi:10.1002/lary.29270. PMID: 33200831.
17. Francis DO, Rymer JA, Slaughter JC, et al. High economic burden of caring for patients with suspected extraesophageal reflux. Am J Gastroenterol. 2013;108(6):905-911. doi:10.1038/ajg.2013.69. PMID: 23567358.
18. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consumer Price Index. Cumulative inflation factor, 2013–2026 = 1.39. Not a PubMed source. Cited in the RefloDx commercialization plan for the inflation adjustment of the Francis et al. burden estimate.
19. University of Michigan Health. Esophageal 24-hour pH/impedance reflux monitoring. Institutional service page stating that experts perform more than 400 esophageal reflux-monitoring procedures each year. Accessed 6 October 2026. https://www.uofmhealth.org/our-care/specialties-services/esophageal-24-hour-phimpedance-reflux-monitoring. Not a PubMed source.
20. Yadlapati R, Gyawali CP, et al. Diagnostic yield of ambulatory reflux monitoring systems for evaluation of chronic laryngeal symptoms. Am J Gastroenterol. 2024. Five referral centers (four in the United States and one in Taiwan), March 2018–May 2023; 813 patients, of whom 532 underwent 24-hour pH-impedance monitoring. PMID: 37830520.
21. How to set up a successful motility lab. Gastroenterology. 2020. Reports that the 2019 American Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society registry included more than 120 motility laboratories in North America, most affiliated with academic centers. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2020.01.022. A single motility room was described as able to perform about 25–40 procedures weekly across procedure types, not impedance-pH alone.