105203Precision Medicine for Coronary Artery Disease with Optical Flow MicrocathetersClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UK"Echopoint are a UK-based medical technology SME at the cutting edge of enhanced diagnostics. Their first product will address the urgent need for better assessment of blood flow within heart arteries during stenting procedures for heart attacks, enabling a precise diagnosis of the patient's condition and patient-specific recommendations for treatment. This will thereby improve the patients outcome in this life-or-death situation. They have designed a miniaturised sensing catheter, less than half a millimetre in diameter, that is able to be passed by doctors into the heart to guide treatment of cholesterol blockages within the blood vessels. Uniquely, it is able to sense many different signals at once, such as blood temperature to one thousandth of a degree and the flow of blood within the vessel itself. Combining these highly specific measures with high-fidelity electrocardiogram (ECG) signals will enable an unprecedented level of information about microvascular physiology, and provide a foundation for a wide range of future developments. Supported by the Precision Medicine Accelerator, Echopoint will finalise the catheter and console design, and develop the analytic tools to leverage highly specific patient data to provide clear treatment recommendations to treating physicians. A 10 patient First In Human (FIH) clinical study will demonstrate early clinical proof of concept. The project will thus accomplish key steps towards the commercialisation of an entirely new fibre-optic sensing platform. The Echopoint team are made up of recognised leaders in their fields. Top optical, electrical and biomedical engineers are joined by a cardiologist and an experienced medtech business expert who will lead this highly innovative company through to successful commercialisation. The Precision Medicine Investment Accelerator provides valuable assurance and risk-reduction that is required to attract the major private and venture funding. It will enable Echopoint to launch as a new UK based, high-tech University spin out, acceleration the development of its new sensing technologies to bring benefits for patients in the NHS and worldwide. The platform developed by Echopoint is poised to affect many facets of medical diagnosis by providing enhanced information for doctors and thereby ensuring the most effective and applicable treatment is provided."