Medical Device Daily Associate

A consortium of State of Ohio organizations made up of the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU; both Cleveland), the University of Cincinnati, plus several medical device firms, has received $22.8 million from that state to establish an Atrial Fibrillation (AF) innovation Center at the Cleveland Clinic.

A second consortium received $6 million to fund age-related macular degeneration research based at the Clinic’s Cole Eye Institute, and a third Clinic-led group was awarded $4 million to establish a Clinical Tissue Engineering Center – a total of $32.8 million

The new Atrial Fibrillation Innovation Center will be one of the state’s Wright Centers of Innovation, which consist of large-scale, research and technology development platforms designed to accelerate the pace of Ohio commercialization. Supported by large grants, the Wright Centers have been created under Ohio’s Third Frontier Project, a 10-year, $1.1 billion initiative to expand high-tech capabilities and innovation within the state.

Merle Madrid, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Development, told Medical Device Daily that the Third Frontier was a program initiated by current Ohio governor Bob Taft in 2002. The purpose: “to unite Ohio’s First Frontier, which is agriculture and the Second Frontier in manufacturing, with the Third Frontier, which is the knowledge-based economy that’s going to drive business in the 21st century.”

The grants, according to Madrid, are currently funded by the general revenue fund of Ohio and, since their inception in 2002, have distributed roughly $330 million.

“The centers and research funded today involve the collaboration of some of the top clinicians, laboratory researchers, technology companies and venture capitalists in the nation,” said Delos Cosgrove, MD, president and CEO of the Cleveland Clinic. “The joint efforts of these individuals and institutions will result in important new tools for diagnosing and treating disease while creating new medical products and bringing new wealth to Ohio.”

Importantly, the grants are being used as a way to help promote better paying jobs in Ohio by funding high-tech industry. Several companies involved in the partnership, but not all, are located in the state.

Eric Topol, MD, chairman of the department of cardiovascular medicine and provost and chief academic officer at the Clinic, said that five of the companies involved in the Wright Center grants are Ohio-based, “meaning these projects could promote hundreds of new Ohio jobs over the next five years,”

AF is a common condition that causes rapid, uncontrolled heart rhythms. About 2.2 million Americans have the condition, including nearly 100,000 Ohioans, the clinic noted in a statement. The condition also accounts for more than one in five strokes.

Led by the clinic, the Atrial Fibrillation Center team will implement a five-part program to ensure that new AF research and therapies are developed, and then commercialized, for the benefit of patients.

Companies involved in the Atrial Fibrillation Innovation Center include Atricure (West Chester, Ohio), Philips Medical Systems (Cleveland), Sinus Rhythm Technology (Plymouth, Minnesota), Symphony Medical (Eden Prairie, Minnesota), Boston Scientific (Natick, Massachusetts), Cardionet (San Diego), Cyberonics (Houston) and St. Jude Medical’s (St. Paul, Minnesota) Cardiac Rhythm Management division

The Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute, with its partners CWRU, Wright State University (Dayton, Ohio), Alcon (Fort Worth, Texas), PrognostiX (Cleveland) and Frantz Biomarkers (Cleveland), received $6 million for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) research under Ohio’s Biomedical Research and Technology Transfer Partnership Program, also a Third Frontier project.

Officials in Ohio are determined to keep the Third Frontier project going on a long-term basis, noted Madrid. He said that an initiative on the ballot in November will seek to extend the grants.

“It’s a $2 billion bond package, $500 million of which is Third Frontier money that allows us to bond that out long-term to continue to provide for things like this and to even expand it.”

In a cardiovascular-related agreement:

Microlife USA (Tampa, Florida) and the American Heart Association (AHA; Dallas) reported that they have formed a sponsorship agreement on a free, personalized online program that will educate consumers on the importance of heart health and the control of high blood pressure.

Microlife will be a national sponsor of the AHA’s High Blood Pressure Patient and Professional Heart Profilers, an online educational tool “for patients, loved ones and caregivers and a clinical reference tool for professionals,” the company said.

Microlife will notate AHA sponsorship on its blood pressure monitoring marketing materials.

The company joins the AHA and NexCura (Seattle), the developer of the Heart Profilers tools, with a goal to generate awareness among healthcare professionals and the general public on high blood pressure and its associated risks.

The program goals include the encouragement of dialogue between patients physicians and increasing participation in the Heart Profilers program (americanheart.org/heartprofilers).

“The Heart Profilers program allows people to be proactive with their heart health and take charge of it in a meaningful way,” said James Mault, MD, a heart surgeon and the chief medical officer of Microlife.

Microlife will co-market the AHA’s Heart Profilers programs and use its relationships with pharmacy retailers to inform customers about this source of health information. The company also will help educate customers about the importance of monitoring their blood pressure at home with a validated blood pressure monitor to ensure accuracy.