Perceptive Navigation http://perceptivenavigation.com, a Johns Hopkins https://www.jhu.edu spinout, was awarded $3 million in funding from NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) https://www.nihibi.nih.gov to commercialize the company’s ultrasound system called VuPath. This system provides medical imaging from within the body.
The company will use the funding to further develop the product and then conduct studies as it works towards regulatory approval to market the device and work towards an initial regulatory approval from FDA in 2019 for the device to be inserted through a vein. Approvals for other points of access will have to follow separate approvals.
Another award for $2 million made through the NIH Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) https://www.nichd.nih.gov went to a Johns Hopkins startup Clear Guide Medical https://clearguidemedical.com developing ways to apply imaging tools to pediatrics.
The company plans to work with Children’s National Medical Center in Washington D.C. using https://childrensnational.org funding from a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award. The company developed their SCENERGY device as an accessory to ultrasound systems to provide imaging and guidance for needles during medical procedures like biopsies, epidurals, and tissue removal.
Working with the Medical Center, Clear Guide Medical plans to adapt their tools to use for procedures called vessel cannulations, which are one of the more difficult procedures in pediatrics because of the patient’s size.