Pfizer and iCardiac announce cardiac safety alliance
I recently joined the board of iCardiac Technologies, which is commercializing ECG analysis technology from the University of Rochester's renowned Heart Research Follow-Up Program (HRFUP). I'm excited to pass along the news that Pfizer and iCardiac have agreed to an alliance. According to the press release:
The aim of the research alliance is the further development of iCardiac’s COMPAS platform and advanced ECG markers for use in the safety testing of in-development and on-market drugs, and includes a cross-licensing arrangement by which iCardiac will receive rights to ECG analysis technologies developed within Pfizer.Under the terms of the agreement, iCardiac and Pfizer will collaborate on a research program comprised of a series of studies, including retrospective and prospective ECG data analyses. iCardiac will receive an equity investment and technology license payment, plus research and development funding over the term of the alliance. iCardiac will retain commercial rights to the validated technology platform and new biomarkers for future application in cardiac safety clinical trials and technologies....As part of the Critical Path Initiative, the FDA has stated that there is a significant opportunity to further improve the cardiac safety testing process and identify better markers of cardiac risk. The long-term goal of the alliance is to improve the precision, increase the speed and reduce the costs of cardiac safety clinical trials. Â
Pfizer spokeswoman Kate Robbins said:
"Cardiac safety is one of the most challenging hurdles in developing new medicines. We support the development of new tools that may enhance our ability to predict the safety of potential new medicines in early stages of research and development."
iCardiac's tools are exciting in two ways: 1) They may knock out drugs with cardiac safety problems earlier in development --saving lives, money, and time. 2) For certain drugs that are wrongly flagged as potentially dangerous using cruder methods, they may allow development to proceed. That would help more good drugs make it to market.Congratulations to CEO Mikael Totterman and the entire iCardiac Technologies team.