Project description
Innovative medical device provides relief to COPD sufferers
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an often underdiagnosed progressive life threatening lung disease characterised by a persistent reduction of airflow. In Europe alone, 50 million people are affected and 160 000 die annually from COPD, with an annual cost burden of EUR 141 billion. The EU-funded OPEN-LUNGS project is stepping in with a novel device, Pulsehaler, to treat COPD by reopening the small airways known to collapse in COPD patients making it more and more difficult for them to breathe. Clinical trials with Pulsehaler have shown improved quality of life for COPD sufferers. Furthermore, the device can relieve Europe's current COPD cost burden by up to EUR 21 billion.
Objective
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a progressive, debilitating, disease of the lungs which affects 50M Europeans and kills 160,000 every year, with an annual cost burden of €141B. Respinova Ltd. has developed a novel device, called Pulsehaler™, to treat COPD in a revolutionary way by re-opening the small airways which are known to collapse in COPD patients thereby making it increasingly difficult to breathe. No other COPD treatment in the market today can effectively open these airways. In a clinical trial, PulseHaler™ was shown to substantially improve exercise capacity (the strongest predictor of morbidity and mortality), breathing ability, and quality of life of COPD sufferers. If Pulsehaler™ can reduce costs by the same magnitude to which it has been demonstrated to improve patients’ exercise capacity, the current cost burden of COPD in Europe could be reduced by up to €21B annually.
We intend to complete several actions in this project which will bring Pulsehaler™ to the commercial market, and allow Respinova to scale up into a world leader in treating respiratory diseases. A multicenter international clinical trial will be conducted to further build data on Pulsehaler efficacy and support marketing launch. We will obtain CE Mark regulatory approval, and proceed to launch the Pulsehaler™ in the market, scaling up sales, marketing, and production.
Respinova Ltd. is a SME based in Israel with 12 employees currently. We have a seasoned management team with decades of combined medical device, business and leadership experience. We are a Horizon 2020 SME Phase II SME grant winner, and two-time EIC Seal of Excellence winner, for our Pulsehaler™ technology.
Fields of science
Not validated
Not validated
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2b - SME Instrument (grant only and blended finance)Coordinator
4672408 Herzliya Pituach
Israel
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.