CardioWise Acquires Worldwide Rights To Patent, And Software To Guide Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Through License Agreement With Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures

Image Toolbox heart functional analysis software allows optimal placement of leads for patients needing help to maintain heart rhythm.

CardioWise, Inc., is pleased to announce that the company has acquired the worldwide rights to Image Toolbox heart functional analysis software, and pending patent from Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures through a license agreement. The US Patent application was filed November 11, 2016. The software uses cardiac CT patient data sets to determine which heart failure patients may benefit from implantation of a Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy device and can guide the placement of leads to ensure that the device is effective. The Image Toolbox technology utilizes SQuEEZ cardiac functional analysis software that CardioWise has also licensed from Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures.

The research and development of the Image Toolbox was completed by Elliot R. McVeigh, Ph.D., Fady Dawoud, Ph.D., Amir Pourmorteza, Ph.D., Karl H. Schuleri, M.D., and Albert C. Lardo, Ph.D., all of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine at the time the invention was made.

The SQuEEZ technology is based on the ability to track the heart wall as it moves during the contraction of the heart to allow quantitative assessment of regional heart wall motion from cardiac CT data. The analysis can accurately quantify the regional heart wall motion of the left ventricle. SQuEEZ functional analysis is an essential component of the Image Toolbox.

SQuEEZ is used with three other cardiac image measurements in the Image Toolbox to determine which heart failure patients may benefit from Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT). CRT is used by cardiologists to maintain the rhythm of the heart in patients with damage to the heart muscle; however, 30% to 40% of patients who have the devices implanted do not benefit from the therapy. The Image Toolbox can accurately determine the best possible location for implantation of the electrical leads for the CRT device and has improved the effectiveness of CRT implantation in an early clinical study.

Jack Coats, CEO of CardioWise, Inc. said, “We are very pleased that Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures has licensed this capability to CardioWise. The pioneering efforts of the inventors over the past few years to develop the method that has resulted in the Image Toolbox and SQuEEZ have brought extremely important new quantitative information to evaluate and treat patients with cardiovascular disease and heart failure. We are excited about the possibility of helping many heart failure patients to receive CRT implants by making them more effective in improving patients’ quality of life.”

CardioWise™ is commercializing patented, Cardiac Computed Tomography (CT) machine learning analysis software that produces a quantified image model of the human heart. CardioWise heart analysis software combined with cardiac CT is a single diagnostic test that is able to provide quantitative analysis of heart wall motion, arteries and valves with an unprecedented level of detail. It has the opportunity to become the new gold standard of care for heart health analysis. CardioWise™ is a VIC Technology Venture Development™ portfolio company.

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