A Medical Device Daily

The Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center (GCIC; Cleveland) has reported its Fall 2009 funding round, which included $2 million in grants to help heart-related companies develop their products and services.

The companies in line to receive grants from the latest round are:

• Blue Ash Therapeutics (Cincinnati, Ohio) for the development of a new antiarrhythmic drug for adjunct therapy in patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs)

• Cardioception (Cincinnati) for the development of a cardioprotective treatment to be used as an adjunct to revascularization in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

• Deca-Medics (Columbus, Ohio) for the development of the LifeBelt compression-assist device to be used for performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for the treatment of sudden cardiac arrest..

• Early Sense (Israel) for the development of a contact-free continuous blood pressure and cardiac rhythm change monitoring system.

In addition two drug research and development projects, from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and University Hospitals of Cleveland, were awarded a second year of funding to assist them towards commercialization.

Early Sense will be establishing their North American headquarters in Ohio, bringing the number of companies attracted to Ohio by the GCIC to 13 in the past two years. The attraction of cardiovascular companies to establish operations or U.S. headquarters in Ohio is one of the major initiatives of the GCIC, in addition to its role in providing seed funding to start-up companies within the state.

Four companies and two R&D programs were awarded grants averaging $300,000 from the GCIC in this latest round. Grants ranged from $100,000 to $450,000.