Using MRI in cardiovascular disease management to measure plaque burden

Diagnostic: Vulnerable plaque burden

Revenue: > $100 million
Patients: 500,000
Achievable ROI: $90 million

IP Rights Status: Assigned to client

An early stage bioinformatics company sought to develop a medical product to non-invasively detect the presence of vulnerable plaque – a type of plaque that can rupture and result in heart attack or stroke. Astoundingly, death is the first sign of cardiovascular disease in 40% of all reported cases in the US. With 70% of heart attacks resulting from plaque rupture in areas containing little plaque, current diagnostic methods proved incapable of reliably detecting high-risk vulnerable plaque. Consequently, research and development began to design a product to resolve this critically unmet need.

Product prototyping began with the construction of a plaque burden prediction model. The data used for development of the prediction model originated in the MRI of both in vivo and ex vivo patients diagnosed with cardiovascular disease.

How does this product work? By applying proprietary analytical and statistical methods to outcome data from landmark studies, we improved the ability to predict plaque burden for high – risk patients. Now, millions of patient lives can be extended with lower cost, first line interventional treatments, potentially saving the healthcare system hundreds of millions of dollars each year.