Endovascular Start-up goes from Concept to Pre-Clinical Trial in 6 months
About
VascuShield1 is an innovative medical device spinout from Ireland’s leading Technical University. Founded by two ground-breaking engineers with a concept that will protect many people from cognitive decline. The product is an implantable endovascular device and delivery system with the potential to disrupt the treatment of a common cardiovascular condition.
Without OxDevice, our small team would have really struggled to make the concept a reality. They really helped the project hit the deadline in the timescale we needed. The experience of the team, really shone through.
The Challenge – Concept to In-vivo Preclinical
Before starting this project, VascuShield had developed a concept for the device they wanted to develop. However, they didn’t know how they were going to take their concept to the next stage. The challenge of material selection and implant geometry design, in addition to the need for a simple but reliable delivery system, was making it hard to structure their project.
VascuShield’s dynamic project manager was looking for an experienced partner to help with their development project. One with deep clinical knowledge of the space and sufficient vertical integration to enable rapid iteration cycles.
The Solution
The Project Manager at VascuShield had used OxDevice previously to help with the development of the initial concept of the device. He knew that he could get clinical and engineering expertise at a great price point. After bringing OxDevice in, the team quickly developed a realistic project plan to move the concept through to the pre-clinical stage.
Leveraging OxDevice’s expertise in endovascular implant and delivery system design and manufacturing enabled VascuShield to initially develop three concept directions. Each of these were prototyped in-house by OxDevice and trialled using state of the art pulse duplicator technology. Blood pressure and flow at different regions of the device was measured enabling comparisons with the advanced Computational Flow Dynamics performed by the VascuShield team. Laser cut nitinol stents were shape set and electropolished by OxDevice and assembled to complex ePTFE features.
The Outcome
The VS team organised a pre-clinical trial in a top US lab. OxDevice engineers attended the study and supported the investigators with tips and tricks on how to get the best out of the device. The results proved the VascuShield concept and the team are extremely optimistic about securing funding for the next stage of the project.
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