SPS Awarded 2 NIH Grants (>$3M total) for Medical Device Development

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.

Mapping/ablation catheters are used to treat atrial fibrillation. Current mechanical catheters are difficult and time consuming to operate and cannot provide reproducible and consistent ablation, whereas the proposed BRDG-SPAN project will develop electronically controlled actuators that will enable advanced micro- steerability, reduced procedure times and advanced automation capabilities. The innovative electrical catheters will benefit millions of Americans who are suffering from atrial fibrillation.

Comments

[Armil @ Long Beach Electrician]

Wow, congratulations to all of you. This amount of money can help many people and save lives. I hope this is not the last. More power.