Stroke is a rapidly developing loss of brain function due to a disturbed cerebral blood supply. Stroke is the second cause of death world-wide and the second cause of disability-adjusted life years in high-income countries. This condition poses a growing global health problem with major individual and societal impact. Acute stroke is a time-critical medical emergency requiring immediate specialized treatment. During the acute phase of an ischemic stroke, approximately two million brain cells die per minute. The adagio ‘Time is brain’ refers to the need for rapid recanalization of the occluded vessel and protection of nervous tissue. The slogan ‘Competence is brain’ points out that stroke patients treated by specifically trained professional caregivers have a better outcome.
From a socio-economical point of view, the direct and indirect cost of stroke globally can easily exceed $100 billion. Stroke patients require high levels of hospital care, long term extra-mural support, community support and typically suffer from extended work disability.
Speed of diagnosis and prompt treatment brings dramatic economic and social savings. Despite evidence of clinical effectiveness and international recommendations, only a minority of stroke patients receives stroke unit care and recanalization therapy. The major opportunity for acute stroke treatment is to reduce the unacceptable delay between stroke onset and initiation of therapy. Recent studies have shown that telemedicine is a valid, accurate and reliable tool to shorten the onset-to-therapy time, with beneficial effects on outcome. Over the past years, our team has built up unique expertise regarding telemedicine and we were the first to deliver 24/7 in-ambulance telemedicine for stroke care.
In September 2016, we were granted the SME Instrument Phase 1 from the European Commission. Through the period of the grant we have had the opportunity to learn and step-up as a company on following topics:
• Business Development & market study
• CE-Marking of our in-ambulance telemedicine solution
• Finalization of design & partner search for scalable production
• Refinement of current business plan
We are currently defining our growth strategy over the coming years. Therefore, learnings and conclusions of the work done over the past months through the SME phase I instrument are of the outmost importance as they will help us identify the needed resources to further develop Zebra Academy.
