Some exciting up and coming innovations from Pitt innovators will be highlighted as part of the University Technology Showcase at the 3 Rivers Venture Fair. The showcase will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Tuesday, February 7th at the Wyndham Grand Hotel in Pittsburgh.
The Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship is a sponsor of the event where innovation teams working to hone their value proposition can meet potential investors and get critical feedback on further de-risking their technologies for future investment
We will feature three of the participating Pitt teams here and the remaining three in an upcoming post.
Aneurisk
Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) affects upwards of 2.5 million people who have this condition in the US. Clinical management of AAA remains challenging as many smaller-sized aneurysms will rupture before the minimum criteria for treatment. Rupture events are costly and significantly increase surgical risk (40% mortality) for emergency repair. AAA surveillance is expensive; the average per patient cost has been reported as $40k for four years.
Using clinical, biomechanical, and shape data, the Aneurisk team has developed a clinical decision support tool to identify low, medium, and high-risk aneurysm patients to better manage patient outcomes. The clinical decision support tool is highly automated to analyze medical images using artificial intelligence to accelerate biomechanical stress and shape analyses. It has completed the most extensive study of its kind and has developed tools to incorporate additional patients.
COMMERCIAL APPLICATION
The technology is a software as a medical device that is based on a proprietary machine learning algorithm. These methodologies can be applied to other types of aneurysms and cardiovascular diseases.
CONTACT: Janice Panza, Technology Licensing Manager – jpanza@innovation.pitt.edu
Cerebral Aneurysm Test -7 (CAT-7)
The Cerebral Aneurysm Test 7 (CAT-7) is the first simple, whole blood based diagnostic test to detect the formation of a Cerebral Aneurysm (CA). A CA is a dilation in the wall of a blood vessel that can cause neurological deficits or rupture leading to a brain bleed. There is currently no FDA-approved blood test to detect CA formation. CAT-7 uses a combination of 7 carefully selected cytokines (inflammatory molecules) and a proprietary algorithm that integrates the seven cytokines to create an "inflammatory fingerprint" that provides the initial diagnosis of a CA and assigns a risk score to the patient that reports greater than 95 percent accuracy in a preclinical model and human CA samples. This information will assist the physician when evaluating and making treatment choices. No other diagnostic methods on the market provide this level of life saving detail
COMMERCIAL APPLICATION
The simple, lab based, CAT-7 can be performed at a cost less than 0.1% (based on cost of goods) of what invasive imaging methods for diagnosing a CA cost today. The team’s primary commercialization approach is to pursue accelerated FDA breakthrough designation and proceed through the 510(k) de novo regulatory pathway.
CONTACT: Mark Luderer, Technology Licensing Associate – mluderer@innovation.pitt.edu
EV2 Technologies, Inc.
Over three million Americans are estimated to have advanced peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Untreated PAD leads to severe blockage in the arteries of the lower extremities, which ultimately results in amputation. Balloon angioplasty and stent placement leads to re-narrowing of the vessel (restenosis). The EV2 team has developed a novel endovascular technology, called the Biocarpet, that significantly reduces the failure rate of endovascular treatments.
This platform technology is applicable to all stenotic arteries with an initial target market of arteries that traverse the knee. The Biocarpet is a flexible, conformable, hemocompatible, and fully resorbable scaffold that is produced in the form of a flat sheet rolled around a thermal balloon catheter (TBC). Upon endovascular delivery, the TBC inflates to unfurl the Biocarpet into the shape of the host vasculature. The Biocarpet is thermoformed and then cooled down to body temperature to lock the device in place. The TBC is deflated and removed from the patient, leaving a scaffold in the shape of the patient's vascular anatomy.
COMMERCIAL APPLICATION
The Biocarpet is a platform technology with other potential applications that also includes any stenosed arteries in the body. This team’s focus is peripheral vascular with a focus on a niche market of patients with advanced disease in peripheral arteries across the knee. This market size is valued at about $250 million. There are other clinical vascular diseases that may also benefit from this platform, technology including treatment of aneurysmal disease both in the large arteries (e.g., aorta) as well as in the brain.
CONTACT: Janice Panza, Technology Licensing Manager – jpanza@innovation.pitt.edu