EMVision Medical Devices Limited (ASX:EMV) has signed a binding Project Agreement with the Australian Stroke Alliance Limited (ASA) with a five-year term for the Stage 2 Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) ‘Golden Hour’ programme.
The Australian Stroke Alliance has been awarded $40 million through the Frontier Health and Medical Research initiative. The five-year programme will lay the foundations for a national and equitable approach to the treatment of stroke. Stroke poses a unique opportunity for transformative treatment – when every single minute counts to save brain cells.
EMVision is a key commercial and industry collaborator that is setting out to develop and deploy its planned second Gen ultra-lightweight and cost-effective portable brain imaging device designed and adapted for road or air ambulance use. Neuroimaging is fundamental to enable on-scene diagnosis and urgent treatment of stroke.
Under the Project Agreement, EMVision will receive $8 million of non-dilutive cash funding in staged payments over the five-year project, weighted to the earlier years. The funding will support EMVision’s development and clinical validation of its planned first responder model for air and road ambulances (second Gen device) commencing with validation of EMVision’s portable brain scanner’s diagnostic capabilities in the hospital environment (first Gen device).
The funding is contingent on the project progressing in a manner that warrants continued funding at each stage and the ongoing achievement of project milestones. A summary of the Project Agreement funding milestones and deliverables and key termination clauses are outlined as an appendix to this announcement.
The ASA has also committed to exploring the joint pursuit of further collaborative grant funding opportunities such as MRFF, CRC or NHMRC schemes with EMVision, as they arise. Any new intellectual property created under EMVision’s specific technology tier will vest with EMVision.
In recognition of the funding, clinical guidance and clinical access to be contributed to EMVision by the ASA, EMVision has agreed to pay the ASA a royalty of 2% of Net Sales in respect of commercial sales of devices specifically designed and adapted for road or air ambulance for use in Australia, for a period of five years from the date on which the full amount of funding under the Project Agreement is received.
Any royalty income generated is expected to assist further research by the ASA and its collaborators.
Under the Project Agreement EMVision is obliged to make its first responder product available for sale to the Commonwealth on commercial terms no less favourable than to other third-party purchasers for direct use in Australia.
Australian Stroke Alliance CEO Dr Damien Easton and Director of Commercialisation Dr Henry De Aizpurua welcomed the signing of the Project Agreement
We are pleased to partner with EMVision to test, validate and deploy an innovative lightweight, portable and affordable brain imaging technology. Prehospital care and Mobile Stroke Units have been shown to substantially improve stroke outcomes, based on the principle that earlier treatment saves threatened brain tissue,” Dr Easton said.
“However, deployment of prehospital models of care outside metropolitan settings has been fundamental limited by the weight of traditional CT scanners. Australia’s first mobile stroke ambulance, based in metropolitan Melbourne, is a specialised vehicle carrying a heavy, retrofitted CT scanner.
“We’ve proven that scanning and treating stroke patients at the scene can transform outcomes but lighter scanners are the future. With our partners at EMVision, we will take the next steps in extending prehospital treatment beyond major cities. Once installed in standard ambulance vehicles and aircraft, the EMVision device has the potential to enable early and accurate stroke diagnosis out in the field, transforming stroke management across Australia, and globally.
“The demand for affordable, portable and lightweight diagnostic brain imaging technologies is enormous. We are keen to start piloting the EMVision scanner as soon as possible. We have little doubt that early clinical validation of this technology will drive a strong response in national and international markets.”
EMVision CEO, Dr Ron Weinberger, said the company has have been working closely with its colleagues at the Australian Stroke Alliance for a number of years now.
“The support from the ASA in this time has been outstanding. Their clinical expertise in stroke care is world leading and their clinical connectivity not just in Australia, but with global leaders in the field in major healthcare markets like the United States and Europe, is unparalleled.
“We are pleased to advance our partnership with the signing of our Project Agreement and unlock our non-dilutive MRFF grant funding. Our shared vision is to create a blueprint, with global reproducibility, to deliver urgent highly portable stroke diagnosis and care for patients, regardless of their location.
The potential societal and health economic benefits are enormous, no more strikingly then for the 1/3rd of our population who live in rural, remote or indigenous communities where access to stroke care, especially Golden Hour stroke care, is limited.”