|
|
|
|
October
2022 – Newsletter
Dear Ward,
Arete have started
fundraising for our
seed round! After
having successfully
raised about £2m
R&D grant projects
with our partners and
matched angel funding,
we are well placed to
take our development
to the next stage. As
always, we are very
pleased to update you
on our progress as we
journey to
transforming the lives
of respiratory
patients. Since our
last newsletter, we
have made more product
development progress,
moving closer to CE
and full ISO 13485
certification, and
have signed our first
NHS partnership
through an Innovate UK
Smart Grant.
|
|
|
|
The Respicorder
Arete Medical
Technologies is
developing a chronic
disease management
platform for asthma,
COPD, long-covid, and
other long-term lung
conditions. The
Respicorder combines
three key breathing
measurements for a
full lung performance
picture. These are
Fractional Exhaled
Nitric Oxide (FeNO),
Spirometry, and
Impulse Oscilometry
(IOS).
The device is
portable,
web-connected, and
lower cost. It is
modular and designed
from a user-first
perspective. The
device is combined
with an Android
application to provide
a respiratory data
hub, presenting key
information about a
patient’s condition,
results, trends, and
other factors to
patients and their
clinician.
Currently these
measurements are only
readily available in
specialist lung
function clinics,
usually in secondary
or tertiary centres,
with some limited
access in primary
care. We will be
bringing these
important measurements
into the community and
into patients’ homes
through usability,
functionality, and
cost-saving
innovations.
We believe
through developing
this solution, we can
save lives, improve
lives, and reduce
costs for health and
care systems.
|
|
Our
Progress
Intellectual
Property
We are
pleased at all three
of our initial
patent applications
have now been
granted in the UK.
These cover the key
ways that we combine
tests and reduce
costs compared to
other equipment
doing these
measurements:
-
Modularity,
where most of
the hardware for
all breathing
tests is in a
base module and
an interchange
lets additional
sensors or other
kit be added for
an additional
test
-
Sensor
sharing, a
related concept
where different
sets of sensors
within the
overall system
are used for
different
respiratory
measurements
-
Miniaturized
impulse
oscillometry,
where a greater
fraction of air
pushed by the
system’s
impulses goes
into the lungs
to be used in
the
measurements. We
can therefore
use a smaller,
lighter,
cheaper, lower
power motor to
push and pull
about 2mL of air
into/from the
airways
Recruitment:
We are
pleased to welcome
Alan Paterson, PhD
to the Arete team.
Alan brings over 20
years' experience in
project management
and continuous
improvement with
respiratory medical
devices. He will
help lead our
internal project
coordination and
alignment with our
key suppliers /
contract
manufacturers.
Product
development:
We are
transitioning to a
design freeze of the
Respicorder Version
1, which targets use
in primary care and
other
clinician-directed
environments. We are
now aligning design
intent and
specifications with
the manufacturing
process and with
contract
manufacturing
partners. While
there is still more
to do and admittedly
it has taken longer
than planned, we've
made some great
progress here. The
product is
essentially at the
quality it needs to
be, it is now about
the finer details of
defining the
processes and
ensuring
repeatability. The
product will soon go
through formal
verification and
validation.
Our software
development has also
progressed well and
we are generating
user feedback on our
Android interface.
It is nearing a
state of being
frozen to what we
intend to take
through product
verification and
validation, ahead of
regulatory
submission. We will
soon undertake a NHS
DTAC assessment to
ensure conformity to
all data protection
and cyber security
regulations.
|
|
Regulatory:
We have
continued are our
progress towards our
Stage 2 ISO13485
audit and expect CE
market by the end of
the year.
Commercial
development and
user experience:
On the 1st
October we commenced
our first NHS
partnership – a
project funded by
Innovate UK to test
the feasibility of
the Respicorder in
respiratory
community nursing
clinical pathways.
Central London
Community Healthcare
NHS Trust will be
working with us on
the project. This is
an exciting
milestone and the
first step in what
we hope is a
long-term
relationship with
the NHS.
We will be
commencing user
testing with 15-20
clinicians and
patients soon as
part of regulatory
processes and to
gain feedback for
future product
features.
We will also
be submitting an
application to the
NIHR Product
Development Award to
further this work,
and to perform
further user testing
and improve design
and manufacturing
capabilities. We
have up to four
exciting
collaborators for
this project,
including at least
one NHS site as well
as experts in
manufacturing,
regulations, and
user design. Since
we expect our
product to be
applicable to
several respiratory
conditions and use
cases, there is the
opportunity to
develop clinical
evaluations in
parallel.
Funding:
We are
excited to have won
an additional grant
funding opportunity
through Innovate UK
Smart. The project
will test the
clinical and user
feasibility of
performing
measurements using
the Respicorder in
patient’s home. This
is an important step
in bringing
specialist grade
measurements into
patients hands for
daily
self-management and
remote monitoring,
and closer to what
is already offered
for other long-term
conditions like
diabetes. The
project will also
de-risk the
significant process
of transitioning
from 3D printing to
injection molding.
We are starting a
fundraising process
in addition to
further grant
applications.
If you are
interested in seeing
a demonstration or
talking through our
device with us, let
us know by replying
to this message!
|
|
|
Arete
and
our partners
have been
awarded a
total of
>£2m to
develop the
Respicorder:
- €1.65m
Eurostars
(ranked
2nd/369)
- £187k,
£110k, £98k,
£74k, and £55k
Innovate UK
- €135k
Horizon
2020 COVID-x
- £500k
Innovate UK
Smart (from
Oct 2022)
|
|
|
|
|
|
