Project description
Innovative cooling device to reduce stroke-related disabilities
In Europe, over 1.1 million people will have a stroke each year, and a third of them will suffer from permanent disabilities. Targeted temperature management (TTM) is an effective method for reducing brain injury in sudden cardiac arrest patients. Extrapolation of TTM to stroke will have an enormous impact on patients. However, currently available cooling technologies have limited functionalities. The EU-funded CUCUMBER project will bring to market the world’s first cooling device, CoolConnect, that will assist the needs of stroke treatment to improve patients’ neurological outcomes and survival. CoolConnect is an integrated device addressing the three critical phases of brain cooling: early cooling, cooling during reperfusion and maintenance cooling.
Objective
Stroke-related disabilities remains a major challenge faced by patients, their families and healthcare systems worldwide and is estimated to cost healthcare systems over €45B/year. In Europe, there are over 1.1M new incidences of stroke per year, a third of which will result in permanent disabilities such as limited mobility and affected cognitive function. These handicaps are a result of the brain damage caused by blocked blood flow to the brain, as well as further damage following the recanalization of an arterial blockage. Targeted temperature management (TTM), also known as 'brain cooling', is a method that has proven effective in reducing brain injury in sudden cardiac arrest patients. Extrapolation of TTM to stroke will have a tremendous impact on patient outcomes, however, the limited functionalities of current cooling technologies prevent this realization.
The CUCUMBER consortium, whose expertise range from engineering, manufacturing, clinical neurology and stroke, are working to change this paradigm by developing CoolConnect, the world's first cooling device that accommodates the needs of stroke treatment to improve patient’s outcome, survival, and neurological outcome. CoolConnect is an integrated device composed of 3 components (RhinoChill, BrainCool, and BrainTemp sensor), which come together to address the 3 critical phases of brain cooling, 1)Early cooling, 2)Cooling during reperfusion and 3)maintenance cooling. CoolConnect is the only solution in development designed for this purpose.
FTI grant is requested to fast-track the market launch of CoolConnect by 2024, to ensure broad and sustainable uptake in the following years. Our main aim is to validate CoolConnect in a large, multicenter trial, and to implement all market access and communication activities critical for broad market adoption. There are >288,000 eligible patients for CoolCoonect per year in EU/US, and yearly revenues of €56M can be anticipated following 5 years of commercialization.
Fields of science
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesneurobiologycognitive neuroscience
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringthermodynamic engineering
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineneurologystroke
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineclinical neurology
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
IA - Innovation actionCoordinator
79106 Freiburg
Germany