Dive Brief:
- Siemens Healthineers and Philips North America are among a group of companies and universities that will receive funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health to develop autonomous endovascular robotics to treat stroke patients.
- The federal awards, totaling up to $175.3 million over five years, are intended to further research on technology to bring faster stroke treatment to more people. Siemens’ work would enable robots to perform long-distance treatment of acute ischemic stroke through mechanical thrombectomy without direct human input, the company said Thursday.
- Stryker, which established a strategic partnership with Siemens Healthineers last year to develop robotic neurovascular interventions, is a subrecipient in the project, Siemens Healthineers said. Others receiving ARPA-H funds for robotic stroke treatment include MIT spinout Magnendo and the University of California, San Diego.
Dive Insight:
ARPA-H funds research into new technology platforms that are tackling complex healthcare problems. The money for the stroke treatment projects comes through the agency’s Autonomous Interventions and Robotics program, or AIR, led by Ileana Hancu.
Restoring blood flow to the brain quickly after acute ischemic stroke is critical to improve patient outcomes and reduce the risk of disability. Mechanical thrombectomy to remove the blood clot blocking the vessel is the standard of care treatment. However, more than half of the U.S. population lives more than an hour from a stroke center capable of providing thrombectomy, ARPA-H said.
AIR’s goal is for stroke patients to receive thrombectomy procedures at the nearest hospital, improving health outcomes and life expectancy, APRA-H said. There are not enough surgeons trained to perform the life-saving procedure, the agency said, and just 12% of eligible patients get the treatment.
“Early access to the right treatment makes all the difference for stroke patients. By integrating robotics, imaging, devices, and artificial intelligence, we want to transform the way endovascular therapy is delivered, towards greater accessibility and precision across a broader range of care settings,” Philipp Fischer, head of advanced therapies at Siemens Healthineers, said in a statement.
The German medtech company will receive up to $31.1 million from the ARPA-H program to further development of an autonomous remote endovascular robot. Siemens Healthineers will contribute $5.4 million to the project, bringing the total investment to as much as $36.5 million.
The company’s separate partnership with Stryker involves developing a system that could perform a range of elective and emergency neurovascular procedures, including treatment for strokes and aneurysms.
In the ARPA-H program, Philips was awarded up to $33.7 million to create an autonomous robot for performing mechanical thrombectomy and other neurointerventional procedures, and Magnendo will get up to $32 million to support development of a magnetic robotic navigation platform for autonomous endovascular intervention.
ARPA-H is among the federal agencies that have been a target of Trump administration research funding cuts.
