RAS-Q Lung Support Device for PH Patients Wins Emerging Medical Innovation Award

Germany’s enmodes won recognition at the recent 2017 Design of Medical Devices Conference in Minneapolis for its RAS-Q technology to help people with pulmonary hypertension (PH).

RAS-Q is a respiratory assist device that offers comprehensive, fully portable, cost-effective and protective treatment for PH patients. One week before the April 9-12 conference where RAS-Q won an Emerging Medical Innovation Valuation Competition award, enmodes presented in vivo results of its animal trials for the first time at the 37^th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation in San Diego.

“’In 12 acute animal trials, pulmonary hypertension was reduced from up to 70 mmHg back to almost baseline, 29 mmHg, and right heart afterload was reduced by 41 percent,” Bart Meyns, the study’s lead investigator, said in a press release.

According to enmodes, RAS-Q uses an approach that mimics the elasticity of the lungs. Its patented technology incorporates a breathing function that yields very low flow resistance and maintains pulsatile flow within the device. This allows high flow rates without the use of a pump, reducing pressure loss by 80 percent and improving cardiopulmonary stress relief.

In effect, RAS-Q offers a new therapeutic approach for those living with PH. It not only provides high gas exchange, but also reduces the disease’s main cause – high blood pressure in the pulmonary system. Bringing pulmonary arterial pressure back to normal levels protects the heart and cardiovascular system from further disease progression.

In Germany, PH accounted for 236,644 hospitalizations in 2014, according to enmodes. Medication exists and helps manage symptoms in patients with the incurable disease, but is very costly at €10.000 per month. Enmodes, based in the German city of Aachen, compares the effectiveness of its technology to what is now seen in patients using ventricular assist devices (VADs) that enable them to perform all kinds of physical activities including hiking, golfing and motor biking.

The company, which provides design and engineering services to medical device companies, plans more animal trials of RAS-Q later this year.