STATE COLLEGE, PA., (June 17, 2010) -- Strategic Polymer Sciences, Inc. (SPS), an innovator in advanced medical devices based on its proprietary electroactive polymer (EAP) technology, today announced it has received a $2.2 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The SPS grant is one of only ten awarded nationwide by the NIH under a Recovery Act Limited Competition called The Biomedical Research, Development, and Growth to Spur the Acceleration of New Technologies (BRDG-SPAN) Pilot Program. These grants are designed to “bridge” the gap between R&D and commercialization for promising new medical technologies.

The grant will support the design and commercialization of SPS's revolutionary steerable cardiac mapping and ablation catheter technology, which is at the 'core' of the SPS cardiac ablation catheter. Mapping and ablation catheters are used to treat atrial fibrillation. This disease affects millions of people each year and given the costs associated with some of the more advanced robotic procedures, millions go untreated. The precise movement or micro-steerability of the SPS catheter uses computer-controlled precision to locate the catheter tip. This type of precision ensures greater success rates, reduces physician fatigue, and decreases procedure time. Current mechanical catheter technologies have a number of disadvantages that can be significantly improved by utilizing EAP technology.

“The BRDG-SPAN project fits our corporate mission of creating enabling technology to improve the quality of living,” said Ralph Russo, co-founder, president, and CEO of SPS. “The NIH financing will enable us to speed the commercialization of micro-steerable cardiac ablation and related catheters that will make life-saving medical procedures less expensive, less risky, and more accessible. The grant has opened the door for EAP technology to be used in a number of other catheter procedures, such as OB-GYN, G.I., and cranial applications, as well as enable advanced micro- steerability, reduced procedure times, and advanced automation capabilities.” SPS is collaborating with Hershey Medical Center to develop a fully commercial demonstration of an advanced electric micro-steerable mapping and ablation catheter using a new class of proprietary EAPs.

Please contact Dr. Paul Rehrig for further information on this project: prehrig@strategicpolymers.com

Strategic Polymer Sciences was recently awarded 2 NIH grants for medical device development.  Their first grant was an NIH SBIR Fast Track award for $850,000 (2 years) started on March 1, 2010.  The development of ultra-high energy density capacitors based on advanced SPS dielectric materials can significantly reduce the size and cost of Automated External Defibrillators (AED). This will enable the deployment of AED in millions of homes of patients with heart arrhythmia problem who are facing the threat of delayed defibrillation if AED not available.

More than 1000 American die every single day due to sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), which claims more lives than breast cancer, AIDS, and lung cancer combined. The survival from SCA strongly depends on the early defibrillation and the probability of survival decreases by 7-10% for every minute of delay in defibrillation. In fact, less than 5% of patients with out-of-hospital SCA can survive to hospitalization. It has been found that automated external defibrillators (AED) can at least double the overall survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients.

In this Fast Track SBIR program (Phase I and Phase II), Strategic Polymer Sciences, Inc. (SPS) proposed to develop low-cost compact film capacitors with ultra-high electrical energy density for portable AED. The advanced capacitors will utilize the recent breakthrough dielectric materials discovered at Penn State University and the commercial-scale resin production and thin film processing technologies developed by SPS. For the same amount of delivered energy, the SPS capacitors will be 80% smaller and 50% cheaper than the current polypropylene (PP) AED capacitors. The advanced SPS film capacitors will shrink the size and reduce the cost of AED, facilitate the deployment of AED in millions of American homes and public buildings, and save thousands of patients with heart arrhythmia problem.

Their second grant was an NIH BRDG-SPAN (Biomedical Research, Development, and Growth to Spur the Acceleration of New Technologies) award for $2,192,113 (3 years) starts on June 4, 2010.  This grant was funded by Recovery Funds.  SPS proposed to develop an advanced electric micro-steerable mapping and ablation catheter using a new class of proprietary EAPs. The micro-steerable catheter can be controlled remotely with a computer and eliminate the X-Ray radiation exposure of the physician/staff during the procedure. This revolutionary design can replace current steerable cardiac mapping and ablation catheters by offering robotic level precision and control in steering. The success of this project will benefit millions of American who are suffering from cardiac arrhythmias, particularly those with atrial fibrillation. This is a multidisciplinary topic and it involves polymer material science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and biomedical devices.

SPS attended the Power Electronics and Intelligent Motion Conference and Exhibition on May 4th through May 7th, 2010.  SPS' booth attracted interest from potential customers worldwide.  SPS presented their capacitor film technologies directly to film capacitor companies as well as making a broader community aware of their work on actuators and solid state cooling.  PCIM also exposed SPS to the extensive work going on in wind and solar energy as well as electric vehicles that may lead to new opportunities for the sale of their film and electroactive polymer (EAP) based devices.

As part of the tradeshow SPS gave away an Apple iPad to Drs. Ir. C.J.J. de Wit (left) from Reelektronika and former Vishay Executive.  The iPad was presented by Ralph Russo, President and CEO of SPS (right).