PORTFOLIO

Today stroke is the second global-leading cause of accidental death worldwide. In particular, hemorrhagic strokes - bleeding in the brain - are particularly dangerous with a mortality and severe disability rate of 51%. It affects 660'000 persons annually and most often young people aged between 30 and 65. One of the main cause of mortality is attributed to a serious complication; a delayed spasm of the cerebral arteries. This uncontrolled blood vessels blockage leads to a lack of oxygen and nutriments in the cerebral tissues with dramatic consequences; entire brain regions can be destroyed. According to the physicians involved in the management of cerebral diseases this complication is highly difficult to detect and lacks any safe treatments.
In order to address this strong medical need, we developed a drastically new therapy. VascuSAFE is a novel generation of electroactive catheter which can resolve the spasms and reestablish blood flow on demand.
Based on several years of research, this minimally invasive therapy aims to become a future standard of care for the efficient management of patients affected by stroke. Ultimately this technology intends to save patients’ lives while fighting the disastrous consequences of hemorrhagic stroke.

A key element of this technology is the therapy itself, an endovascular procedure involving the controlled delivery of electrical stimulation from a blood vessel. This approach is particularly innovative and, on top of that, minimally invasive. Brain arteries are simply reached with a catheter from a single femoral artery entry point therefore avoiding complex open-brain surgeries.

Thanks to the support of the Gebert Rüf Foundation we were able to develop and validate preclinically a disruptive endovascular device and its associated therapy. The preclinical in vivo validation was conducted in collaboration with expert physicians in neuro-endovascular procedures. The product safety was successfully validated during this phase.
The next key milestones are set on achieving the second phase of the pre-clinical (in vivo) demonstration of the VascuSAFE therapy, in a chronic onset this time. Once the device and method are validated, the solution will have to go through a design freeze followed by a verification & validation phase which will ensure the safety and adequacy of the solution. The validation phase will comprise a human clinical trial in selected centers throughout Switzerland and Europe.
A startup company - Artiria Medical SA - was created in order to market this innovative neuroendovascular solution including another breakthrough device, with the perspective to achieve clinical and market excellence to the benefit of the patients.
In addition to the support of the Gebert Rüf Foundation, Artiria received the support of several other startup initiatives including the EPFL Innogrant (FIT), BRIDGE, ENABLE EPFL, Venture Leaders, Venture Kick I-II-III and Innosuisse. Artiria ranked first in the Venture competition 2018 (Business Idea) and was the Winner of MassChallenge 2019.