Company to advance commercial-scale model of non-invasive iCertainty™ platform
September 12, 2016 — GREENVILLE, N.C.— The medical imaging company, RFPi, has secured $2 million in angel investor financing. Money raised to date represents the first part of the company’s planned $3.5-million equity round.
The financing will support development of a commercial-scale model of RFPi’s real-time, non-invasive medical imaging device.
A mid-stage company, RFPi plans to commercialize a brand-new imaging device that shows in real time where and how well blood flows in vascular structures and critical tissues at the time of surgery. RFPi’s patent-protected and copyrighted iCertainty™ platform provides immediate visualization and quantification of blood flow and perfusion without the need for injections, dyes, radiation or direct patient contact.
Existing imaging modalities — such as X-ray, ultrasound, CT scan, MRI or PET scan — cannot provide real-time images and data about blood flow and perfusion without significantly interrupting the surgical procedure, requiring patient contact or increasing patient risk.
“Angel investors — who see ideas for new medical devices all the time — recognized the potential for our device to permanently advance non-invasive medical imaging in terms of speed, ease of use and safety,” said Jeff Basham, CEO. “We are grateful for their show of support and excited about moving toward achieving our key corporate milestones.”
RFPi’s working prototypes have been successfully deployed in three-plus years of pre-clinical and clinical studies. The company anticipates its regulatory approval path to be straightforward, with a Class II 510k application to be filed early next year.
With two patents to date covering 66 claims providing comprehensive intellectual property protection, RFPi anticipates commercializing proprietary blood-flow imaging devices that could:
- Improve clinical outcomes for patients, lessening discomfort and stress.
- Benefit surgeons by integrating views of physiologic circumstances during procedures in real time — without disrupting procedures or requiring patient contact.
- Reduce costs for hospitals by reducing readmission rates for post-surgical complications.
- Objectively measure outcomes, providing third-party payers with quantifiable performance data.
RFPi’s technology was invented in 2010 at East Carolina University by a team of cardiovascular medicine, optical physics and engineering experts. Development has included bench-top and experimental studies, and clinical proof-of-concept and validation studies. This team continues to work closely with RFPi to commercialize these paradigm-changing medical imaging applications and devices.
For physicians and health-care providers working in multiple medical disciplines, RFPi’s iCertainty platform could be incorporated into any medical procedure where blood flow and/or perfusion physiology or pathophysiology might affect the provider’s decision-making or technical aspects of the procedure. Medical applications that would make excellent candidates for RFPi’s medical imaging include:
- Foregut and gastrointestinal surgeries,
- Vascular surgeries,
- Wound management,
- Cardiothoracic surgeries,
- Reconstructive and plastic surgeries,
- Organ and tissue transplants,
- Burn therapies, and
- Hemodynamic and physiologic monitoring.
“In today’s health-care environment, it’s not enough for new medical devices to be clinically effective only,” Basham said. “RFPi’s iCertainty technology can deliver brand-new information that adds value to the health-care system by improving outcomes and reducing costs.”
RFPi aspires to become a leader in real-time, non-invasive medical imaging. A mid-stage company, RFPi is pioneering breakthrough medical imaging technologies to improve surgical outcomes, reduce health-care costs and hospital readmissions, and enhance patient care.
RFPi’s patented and copyrighted intellectual properties propelled the creation of its iCertainty platform, which provides immediate visualization and quantification of blood flow and perfusion without injections and dyes, radiation or the need for direct patient contact. Videos demonstrating how RFPi’s iCertainty platform works can be seen on the company’s website at www.rfpi-co.com.