spin-out award of £500 000 to revolutionise heart condition treatment
1 August 2006
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a heart condition that is highly prevalent in the elderly population. Causing fatigue, breathlessness and higher risk of stroke, its management consumes around 1 per cent of the total NHS budget in the UK.
The Wellcome Trust, the UK's largest biomedical charity, has awarded £500 000 to Scottish spin-out company CardioDigital Ltd. As the leading providers of custom solutions for medical electronic devices, CardioDigital Ltd is now set to revolutionise the treatment of this common heart condition affecting 1 in 200 adults.
CardioDigital Ltd will conduct large-scale clinical trials to help develop an electronic tool that will aid cardiologists' decision-making process when selecting the correct therapy for patients.
The tool will be used to predict the long term maintenance of regular heart rhythm for AF sufferers who undergo cardioversion therapy. The results of this predictive score could be used to exclude up to 50 per cent of an estimated 250 000 patients worldwide who are currently selected for cardioversion treatment and for whom there is no quality of life benefit from therapy. These patients would be selected for a more appropriate therapy.
AF affects 0.5 per cent of the adult population, rising to around 10 per cent or more in those over 75. The number of people suffering from the condition is expected to double in the next 40 years due to the ageing population.
Dr Ted Bianco, Director of Technology Transfer at the Wellcome Trust, commented:
"The Wellcome Trust is keen to support the development of new technology, with the ultimate aim of improving healthcare for patients for generations to follow. The transition by CardioDigital Ltd of techniques from the physical sciences to critical care devices will make a very real impact on clinical outcomes."
Professor Paul Addison, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of CardioDigital, stated:
"The funds will allow us to target a true unmet clinical need by allowing the clinician to provide significantly enhanced patient-tailored therapy. This will offer benefits both to the patient, in identifying the optimum therapy for the individual, so avoiding procedures unlikely to improve patient outcome, and the healthcare provider, in terms of significantly reduced costs."
The announcement of this funding follows on from a previous investment in 2003 by both the Wellcome Trust and the Scottish Executive. This initial £1 million package enabled CardioDigital Ltd to focus on its near-to-market opportunities by accelerating technology development ready for the marketplace in two key device sectors: defibrillators for cardiac arrest victims, and pulse oximeters (a device for measuring oxygen in the blood).
Nicol Stephen, Deputy First Minister for Scotland, who visited the company last week to mark the achievement of this funding, said:
"CardioDigital Ltd has come a long way in a relatively short period of time and is now on the threshold of something of real international significance. The Wellcome Trust is to be congratulated for providing funding to allow the next step to be taken.
"I am delighted that the Executive has been able to provide funding at key stages of CardioDigital's development helping a Scottish company that, through innovation, is helping save lives."
Professor Addison added:
"The medical device sector is particularly receptive to technology pull and there is a strong precedent for new technologies to capture significant market share. This award will allow us to develop the technology to a point where we can target an addressable global market of substantial value with a unique technology offering."
Contacts
Mike Findlay
Wellcome Trust
T +44 (0)20 7611 8612
E
m.findlay@wellcome.ac.uk
Prof Professor Paul S Addison
CEO, CardioDigital Ltd
T +44 (0)1875 408 175
E
p.addison@cardiodigital.com
Notes for editors
1. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a heart rhythm disorder in which the upper chambers of the heart quiver instead of pumping in an organised way, causing an irregular heartbeat. The condition is associated with symptoms of palpitation, fatigue, breathlessness and reduced effort tolerance, and is associated with a five- to six-fold increase in the incidence of stroke. The condition affects 0.5 per cent of the adult population. The management of AF consumes around 1 per cent of the total NHS budget.
The 'gold standard' treatment for AF is DC cardioversion, whereby the patient is given a shock under general anaesthetic in an attempt to reset the heart to a normal (sinus) rhythm. Although rigorously screened prior to this procedure, it still remains very difficult to determine which patients will benefit from this treatment and a large number soon revert back to AF. There is therefore a clear clinical need for a quantitative tool that can predict the likely efficacy of the cardioversion procedure and aid the clinical decision making process such that the most appropriate course of therapy for an individual patient can be identified.
The AF technology developed by the CardioDigital will allow for enhanced selection of the patients for whom cardioversion therapy will be of benefit.
2. The Wellcome Trust is the most diverse biomedical research charity in the world, spending about £450 million every year both in the UK and internationally to support and promote research that will improve the health of humans and animals. The Trust was established under the will of Sir Henry Wellcome, and is funded from a private endowment, which is managed with long-term stability and growth in mind.
3. CardioDigital Ltd was established in 2001 with the vision of becoming a world-leading supplier of unique signal analysis solutions. CardioDigital Ltd specialises in novel medical signal analysis solutions for medical devices. The company's main focus is on two market sectors: defibrillator and pulse oximeter products. The company spun out from Napier University, Edinburgh, and is currently based at Elvingston Science Centre in East Lothian, just outside the city.
The medical device sector is particularly receptive to technology pull and there is a strong precedent for new technologies to generate increased market share. Through its proprietary signal processing techniques, CardioDigital Ltd is well placed to be in the vanguard of 21st-century patient monitoring with enhanced device utility, stimulating increased sales for our target customer base. The company's longer-term strategy includes the development of novel analysis tools for other biosignals and elements of manufacture across a range of high-value niche market medical device products.
4. Nicol Stephen was elected leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats in June 2005 and appointed Deputy First Minister (DFM) and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning under the terms of the Partnership Agreement, which underpins the coalition government.
With the First Minister (FM), the DFM is responsible for development, implementation and presentation of Executive policy and deputises for the FM on promotion and representation of Scotland.
As Enterprise Minister, Mr Stephen is responsible for economy, business and industry, including Scottish Enterprise, and Highlands and Islands Enterprise trade and inward investment; further and higher education; science; corporate social responsibility; community business and cooperative development; European Structural Funds; energy; lifelong learning; training and skills.
The Scottish Executive is the devolved government for Scotland. It is responsible for most of the issues of day-to-day concern to the people of Scotland, including health, education, justice, rural affairs and transport.
The Executive is led by an FM who is nominated by the Parliament and in turn appoints the other Scottish Ministers who make up the Cabinet.
It manages an annual budget of more than £27 billion in the financial year 2005-2006, which is due to rise to over £30b in 2007-2008. The Executive was established in 1999, following the first elections to the Scottish Parliament. It is a coalition between the Scottish Labour Party and the Scottish Liberal Democrat Party.