10 minutes. That’s all the time someone has after a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) before it’s too late. Even if they do survive the event, every second that ticks by greatly increases their chances of permanent brain damage.
This needs to change.
Slap it on the chest, it does the rest.
Our proof of concept is built and we have partnered with the Mayo Clinic who is also an investor in the PocketDefib. CardioThrive has been awarded the 2015 Enabling Technology Leadership Award from Frost & Sullivan. We’re close to releasing our next prototype which will be 30% smaller than the current version and then take our revolutionary product to market — first in Europe followed by the US.
Over 1,000 Americans experience SCA every day. What if there was always a means on hand to keep a patient alive until professional help arrived? Our vision at CardioThrive is to use our revolutionary PocketDefib to increase the average survival rate of Sudden Cardiac Arrest victims from 7% to over 50%.
How are we making this vision a reality? Read on to find out!
Existing devices are bulky and heavy, complicated, hard to use, intimidating, dated, and inconvenient. Public location wall-mounted AEDs have been relatively ineffective, only saving about 1% of SCA patients.
CardioThrive is the first company to make any significant improvements to the AED in over 20 years. Our improvements are not only reflected in a reduced size and weight, but also single piece design, function, recording capability, ease of use, equipped with GPS for faster EMS dispatch, and complete status monitoring and maintenance of the unit, assuring consistency and quality control.
For those who are at risk for SCA, there is currently no ultra-portable personal device available to save lives in SCA emergencies. We are committed to answering this need for people at risk, so that more lives can be saved, buying patients the vital time needed for medical professionals to arrive.
PocketDefib is a lightweight, portable, intuitive, no-assembly-required, and fully automatic pocket AED. Because of this extreme convenience to carry and own, it will be more readily available, making it easier to be found where it is is needed, when it is needed, and for whom it is needed.
A major factor in the ineffectiveness of public location wall-mounted AEDs is that the general public feels intimidated using them. Unlike public access AEDs, there are no electrode patches to attach and no switches to turn on with PocketDefib; it smartly senses the cardiac state and will not fire unless it needs to. Bystanders are relieved of the shock delivery decision making part in this high stress situation. The only instructions they need to remember: Slap it on the chest, it does the rest.
CardioThrive HQ will also receive a signal that the unit has been deployed, and we will overnight a new PocketDefib to the subscriber along with packaging to send the used one back. We will upload the data recorded of the cardiac event and it can be forwarded on to the patient’s doctor and can become part of their permanent medical record. We will then refurbish the returned unit, change the battery and electrode sensing pads and put the unit back into use with another subscriber. PocketDefib is first “green” medical device!
Roughly the length and width of an iPhone 6 with 4x the thickness, the PocketDefib is ideal for first responders, people in remote areas, military, police, firefighters, nurses, or anyone currently at risk of SCA.
Bottom line: PocketDefib greatly improves the chance of survival for SCA victims and minimizes the amount of additional brain damage. This product saves lives.
Here are three (of many) examples of people who PocketDefib is perfect for.
Located in Walnut Creek, California, CardioThrive, Inc was incorporated in June 2011. Since then, we have identified the need and opportunity. We have developed design concepts and filed multiple patents around our design, function, and unique and novel waveforms. To date, 3 patents have been issued in the USA, 1 in Europe (validated in 8 countries), 2 in Japan, and 1 in China. We also have 12 more pending in the USA, 5 more in Europe, 1 in India, and 3 more in Japan. Needless to say, our IP is extremely strong.
Our proof of concept model has been built and was successfully tested in 2015 at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. The Mayo Clinic is our clinical research partner as well as an investor. We are working with the leading electrophysiologists in the country and have recently co-patented new technology with them.
We also received the Frost & Sullivan 2015 Enabling Technology Leadership Award:
“CardioThrive, Inc. fills an existing market gap with its truly disruptive technology that is highly innovative and has the potential to turn heart failure into a more survivable occurrence. The company’s concentrated and targeted approach is set to provide long-term sustainable differentiation in treatment for patients, clinicians, and investors. Frost & Sullivan is extremely impressed with CardioThrive’s visionary approach to automated external defibrillators, and is thus recognizing CardioThrive, Inc. with the 2015 Enabling Technology Leadership Award.”
BenchMark of Minneapolis, MN will be building our working prototypes. We are currently researching options for manufacturing in the US and Europe.
Make sure to request access to the business plan tab of this profile for an inside look into CardioThrive!
CardioThrive was founded by Shelley Savage (CEO), , Douglas Raymond (CTO), Peter Gray, Director of Strategic Planning, and Walter T. Savage (Inventor and Clinical Domain Expert).
Walter is an interventional cardiologist and his wife Shelley managed his medical practice for 15 years. Walter is also an avid bicyclist and often goes on large charity group rides. He has seen other bicyclists collapse of Sudden Cardiac Arrest while on his bike rides. Although he is highly trained and skilled in the field of cardiology, he was powerless to save the victim’s life because he didn’t have the tool he needed – a defibrillator. After losing one of his friends to SCA on a bike ride, he came home very upset and asked Shelley: “Why can’t someone make a small defibrillator I can just stick in my pocket and carry with me?” Shelley’s response: “Why don’t you?”
Shelley decided to find out why no one in the industry had made a small, ultra-portable AED that could be carried in the zipper pocket of a biking shirt. She expected there to be a technical reason why this had not been possible (large capacitor or heavy battery requirement, for example), however, that was not the case. The only reason it hadn’t been done before was simply because it hadn’t been done before. The industry seemed to find what worked and then stopped making improvements.
This inspired Shelley and Walter to produce the next generation of AED that was smaller, lighter, easier to use, and better in every single way – and today they’ve done it! The PocketDefib will be a major market disruption and could possibly change the way CPR is done forever!
Shelley Savage, Founder, CEO
Shelley is the originator of CardioThrive’s 1st patent, and author of the introductory chapter in the Arrhythmias Technology Institute’s textbook “The Evolution of the Cardiac Defibrillator.” She has 15 years experience in cardiology practice management and 28 years experience in investment products and real estate sales. She holds Series 6 SEC licensure, CA R/E licensure, and an AS degree in business management and finance.
Douglas Raymond, CTO, Co-Founder
Douglas is our engineering guru. He is a medical device and technology industry executive with startup experience. He has previously worked for C8 Medisensors, Frost & Sullivan, PDF Solutions, Agilent Technologies, and Hewlett Packard. He has a BS in computer science from Franklin Pierce University and another in electrical engineering from the University of Massachusetts.
Walter T. Savage, MD, FACC, Clinical Domain Expert, Co-Founder
Walter is an interventional cardiologist and the PocketDefib inventor. He is Board Certified in Cardiology and Internal Medicine, a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, sought after public speaker, and principal investigator in 6 clinical trials. He is currently the clinical supervisor of the GlaxoSmithKline Clinical Research Unit and an attending physician for John Muir Health Systems. He is a graduate of NY Medical College, Magna Cum Laude
Peter Gray, Director of Strategic Planning
Peter is a serial entrepreneur, previously founding StreetStrider International, BlueRock Technologies, and Tachyon Development Ltd. He previously worked for NASA, Morgan Stanley, MTV Networks, BAe Space Systems, and holds an MA in Engineering from the University of Cambridge.