June 24, 2010 – The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced this week that it has given a $2.2 million grant to fund new treatment technology for atrial fibrillation (AF). The grant will allow Strategic Polymer Sciences Inc. (SPS) to design and commercialize its new steerable cardiac mapping and ablation catheter technology.
The precise movement or micro-steerability of the SPS technology uses computer-controlled precision to locate the catheter tip. This type of precision ensures greater success rates, reduces physician fatigue and decreases procedure time.
The grant is given by the NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and is one of only 10 awarded nationwide. The grant is part of a Recovery Act Limited Competition called The Biomedical Research, Development, and Growth to Spur the Acceleration of New Technologies (BRDG-SPAN) Pilot Program. These grants are designed to “bridge” the gap between R&D and commercialization for promising new medical technologies.