It’s no secret that medical research and development is an expensive pursuit. Many medtech and pharmaceutical companies are constantly on the lookout for non dilutive funding to accelerate their projects, hopefully to market.
Medtech company EMVision (ASX: EMV) is focused on developing their portable medical imaging technology. The Company has secured access to $8 million in staged cash funding from The Australian Stroke Alliance (ASA) whom they have signed a binding Project Agreement with.
The ASA was awarded $40 million from the Frontier Health and Medical Research Initiative which seeks to form a national approach to the treatment of stroke.
EMVision acquired $8 million of that funding to put towards development and deployment of their 2nd generation ultra-lightweight and economical portable brain scanner. The device allows for specialised diagnostic imaging which is an essential precursor to treatment.
In the event of stroke 1.9 million neurons are lost per minute along with 14 billion synapses and 12 kilometres of myelinated fibres. The brain during a stroke will age 3.6 years per hour without treatment. This is why rapid diagnosis is essential to reduce morbidities and mortality.
Despite being a medical emergency, stroke can be timely to diagnose through imaging and blood tests, and, when time is not a luxury healthcare providers have, the need for a product like EMVision’s becomes clear.
Under the project agreement, EMVision will receive staged payments of the funding money to support clinical validation and commercialisation of their scanner’s diagnostic capabilities and accuracy. In return, EMVision will pay the ASA a royalty of 2% of net device sales.
EMVision CEO Dr. Ron Weinberger said: “We have been working closely with our colleagues at the Australian Stroke Alliance for a number of years now. The support from the ASA in this time has been outstanding. Their clinical expertise in stroke care is world leading and their clinical connectivity not just in Australia, but with global leaders in the field of major healthcare markets like the United States and Europe is unparalleled. We are pleased to advance our partnership with the signing of our Project Agreement and unlock our non-dilutive MRFF grant funding. Our shared vision is to create a blueprint, with global reproducibility, to deliver urgent highly portable stroke diagnosis and care for patients, regardless of their location. The potential societal and health economic benefits are enormous, no more stinkingly than for the 1/3rd of our population who live in rural, remote or indigenous communities where access to stroke care, especially Golden Hour stroke care, is limited.”
Samantha Freidin is a business journalist at Emerald Financial whilst also completing a Masters of Marketing and Digital Communications at Monash University.
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