Fifth Eye Inc., https://fiftheye.com, a Michigan Medicine spinoff medical device software company was started in 2017. The company has received $11.5 million to support research, development, and commercialization of the company’s first product called “Analytic for Hemodynamic Instability” (AHI).
The funding of AHI was led by two healthcare investors Arboretum Ventures and Cultivation Capital. Joining the round were MINTS, the direct investing arm of the University of Michigan’s endowment along with additional capital from previous investors which includes Invest Michigan and 35 private angel investors.
By using advanced signal processing and machine learning, AHI is able to continuously monitor and interpret electrocardiogram signals to predict if a patient will become unstable hours before traditional vital signs appear.
AHI is based on technologies developed at the University of Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care (MCIRCC) https://mcircc.umich.edu. Originally, the technology was developed as part of a simulated hypovolemia (Hemorrhage) study by the Army, with the concept behind AHI further developed at the University of Michigan.
AHI can be used in hospital settings where patients are having continuous ECG monitoring performed. Early identification of patients developing hemodynamic instability allows for intervention before the condition becomes life or organ threatening. AHI updates a patient’s risk for such events every two minutes.
It took MCIRCC researchers consisting of clinicians, engineers, mathematicians, and data scientists four years to develop a unique automated computer algorithm using data from a single lead of the non-invasive ECG signal for analysis and provide information on early hemodynamic decline.
According to Kevin Ward, M.D., Co-Inventor of the technology and the Executive Director of MCIRCC, “The product and company is a perfect example of MCIRCC’s strategy to transform critical care through innovation, integration, and entrepreneurship. “The key was bringing together a highly multidisciplinary team committed to developing a life-saving big data precision-medicine tool, while simultaneously understanding the need to develop and cultivate a crucial business case to move the idea to impact.”
Jen Baird, CEO of Fifth Eye and U-M alum in 2017 reached out to U-M Technology Transfer https://techtransfer.umich.edu to find new and innovative ideas to take into the marketplace. After collaborating with the MICIRCC team for nine months, she licensed two MICIRCC’ predictive analytics, including AHI.