APEX Medical Says Its Blood Pressure Sensing Technology Is the Key to Unlocking a $6 Billion Heart Pump Market.Business/Technology Editors & Health/Medical Writers RESTON, Va.--(BW HealthWire)--Sept. 19, 2000 Medical device makers engaged in an international race to develop the next-generation cardiac assist device will now be able create a reliable, implantable heart pump that will improve and extend the lives of millions of people -- and open up a $6 billion market. The enabling technology that will permit development of a ventricular assist device ventricular assist device: see under heart, artificial. (VAD (Value Added Dealer) Same as VAR. ) which can be implanted over the long term is now available in the form of a direct blood pressure sensor A pressure sensor measures the pressure, typically of gases or fluids. Pressure is an expression of the force required to stop a gas or fluid from expanding, and is usually stated in terms of force per unit area. A pressure sensor generates a signal related to the pressure imposed. , according to James E. Sluetz, president and chief executive officer of APEX Medical, Inc. Speaking at the 4th Annual Emerging Medical Technologies-East conference, Sluetz today announced that his firm has developed a blood pressure sensor that uses physiological inputs from the body to control the speed of rotary pumps on which most next-generation VADs depend. "Direct blood pressure measurement is the key parameter required for long term VAD control, and our technology is the only one that supports physiologic closed loop control," said Sluetz. Until now, smaller rotary VADs in development or in clinical testing have had to rely on indirect control parameters Control parameters In a nonlinear dynamic system, the coefficient of the order parameter; the determinant of the influence of the order parameter on the total system. See: Order Parameter. , such as motor current, to regulate pump performance. APEX Medical said direct pressure measurements offer a more precise method for pump control and diagnostic monitoring. "The VAD market is conservatively a $6 billion worldwide potential," Sluetz said. "We believe that a tight physiologic control loop will be an essential requirement for VADs to successfully penetrate that market opportunity." VADs incorporating blood pressure sensing technology will become an everyday device, much like pacemakers have become in the last 25 years, predicted Sluetz. The titanium APEX blood pressure sensor, which recently successfully completed extensive in vitro in vitro /in vi·tro/ (in ve´tro) [L.] within a glass; observable in a test tube; in an artificial environment. in vi·tro adj. In an artificial environment outside a living organism. and in vivo in vivo /in vi·vo/ (ve´vo) [L.] within the living body. in vi·vo adj. Within a living organism. in vivo adv. testing, enables rotary VADs to auto-regulate by directly and continuously measuring blood pressure as an input to a closed-loop control system. This lets VADs adjust their pumping rates in response to patient activity levels and perfusion needs, Sluetz said, helping to improve and prolong the lives of patients suffering from congestive heart failure congestive heart failure, inability of the heart to expel sufficient blood to keep pace with the metabolic demands of the body. In the healthy individual the heart can tolerate large increases of workload for a considerable length of time. . Today nearly five million people in the U.S. suffer from congestive heart failure, often the end stage of cardiac disease, according to the American Heart Association American Heart Association (AHA), n.pr a national voluntary health agency that has the goal of increasing public and medical awareness of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, and thereby reducing the number of associated deaths and disabilities. . About 550,000 new cases occur each year. Because the lack of suitable donor hearts limits heart transplants as a widespread cure to end-stage congestive heart failure, a fully implantable cardiac assist device with a closed-loop physiologic control system is the most viable alternative, long-term solution, according to APEX Medical. About APEX Medical APEX Medical, Inc., on the Web at www.apex-med.com, founded in 1996 and based in East Walpole, Mass., is a medical device company developing new technologies to address the therapeutic and monitoring market segments of chronic heart disease. In 1997, the company received a $1.5 million matching grant matching grant Academia Non-peer-reviewed funding in which a commercial enterprise, foundation, or philanthropy, federal government, contributes a sum of money that 'matches' a financial contribution made by an institution, university or hospital. from the National Institute of Standards and Technology National Institute of Standards and Technology, governmental agency within the U.S. Dept. of Commerce with the mission of "working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements, and standards" in the national interest. to develop a long-term, implantable, pressure monitoring system. Investors in APEX Medical include Crescent Capital, Mayo Medical Ventures, Venture Investment Management Company, and Zero Stage Capital. NOTE: Photo of prototype blood pressure sensor is available at www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.060500/bb8 |
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