Respiratory imaging technology specialist 4DMedical (ASX: 4DX) has been awarded $1.9 million in non-dilutive funding from the Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P), an initiative of the Federal Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources.
The CRC-P funding was for the project entitled “CT:VQ – A Better Pulmonary Perfusion Test”.
4DMedical’s successful application for CRC-P funding will expand and accelerate the company’s efforts to generate clinical evidence to support the efficacy of CT:VQ, and represents a major boost to its progress towards commercialisation.
4DMedical will work in partnership with I-MED and Macquarie University to conduct clinical studies and perform health economic analyses, which will enable rigorous clinical assessment of CT:VQ and measurement of its health and economic benefits. The clinical evidence is precisely the information that physicians need to rapidly substitute 4DMedical’s CT:VQ for nuclear medicine VQ scans, while the health economic analyses will provide invaluable intelligence to steer our commercial efforts, including reimbursement.
Ventilation Perfusion imaging
Within the lungs, airflow is known as ventilation and blood flow is known as perfusion, and these are often denoted as V and Q, respectively. Quantifying and visualising V and Q, and any potential mismatch between them, can provide valuable diagnostic information. In a healthy lung, ventilation and perfusion are well-matched, meaning that airflow and blood flow are evenly distributed throughout the lungs.
4DMedical’s CT:VQ solution
4DMedical’s CT:VQ technology enables quantitative VQ data and visualisations to be extracted from a CT scan, without the need for any radioactive tracer or contrast. It achieves this by measuring both the regional motion and local density changes of lung tissue.
By extracting VQ information from standard non-contrast CT images rather than nuclear medicine VQ images (which require radioactive contrast media), hospitals can avoid the significant capital expenditure involved in manufacturing, handling, and disposing of radioactive materials. Furthermore, access to standard non-contrast CT far exceeds access to nuclear imaging equipment, specialist nuclear imaging staff, and short-lived radioactive contrast media.
CT:VQ is set to disrupt a billion dollar segment of respiratory diagnostics by replacing nuclear VQ imaging with a technology that is faster, safer, cheaper, more convenient and more accessible,” MD/CEO and Founder, Andreas Fouras, said.
“As a win, win, win change in healthcare practice, CT:VQ represents a once in a generation opportunity. We anticipate closing out clinical trials required for FDA, TGA and other regulators in calendar 2024 and filing in calendar 2025.
“We have been working for some time, leveraging hard fought experience with existing products, to build an aggressive market adoption strategy. Our efforts will be assisted by strong tailwinds – we are working to replace an existing product for the same clinical use, but with better workflow, and better accessibility.
“Core to this market adoption strategy is rapidly building necessary clinical data to empower physicians. We are thrilled that following a highly competitive process, the Federal Government has decided to support this critical work, driving both increased scope and faster delivery.”