The aim of our technology is to give clinicians the possibility to make an accurate and objective diagnosis of equilibrium disorders through a quantitative measure. PGAS (Perturbation Generation and Analysis System) aims to become the new standard in the market of postural analysis.
Patent status
SUBMITTED
Priority Number
102020000008686
Priority Date
22/04/2020
License
INTERNATIONAL
Market
The customer interested in the product can be considered all those people that work in the postural diagnosis field. In Italy, this market can be approximated by around 9000 possible clients. The market is expected to grow substantially in the next years due to the social and political italian situation. Since PGAS company is located in Turin and has not lunched the product on the market yet, in the first year of distribution the company will focus its attention only on the area of the city in which there is around the 3% of the potential Italian market. The characteristic of the product requires investments in complementary assets to detect the postural response. The 20% of the possible customers have such equipment and it has estimated that they purchase the product in the first year.
Problem
Anti-neoplastic chemotherapics are chemicals capable of hindering and / or stopping the cell multiplication of tumor masses. -They are administered for the purpose of eliminating cancer cells and preventing their proliferation. -However, in many cases they are only partially effective. One reason is that the cells surrounding solid tumor masses (stromal cells, including fibroblasts or CAFs) play a critical role in supporting tumor growth and dissemination. They are not targeted by the conventional therapies. -A possible solution is to adopt the strategy of co-targeting in which the tumor cells are directly affected, and indirectly, by counteracting the stromal component that supports them. -Here a new molecule is presented that is able to counteract both the tumor component and the fibroblasts CAFs surrounding and supporting the tumor.
Current Technology Limitations
Not adaptable to the physical characteristics of the patient. Not adaptable to different clinical task. Not offer the possibility to change the characteristics of the perturbation. Not have a real integration of sensors and instrumentation for an objective and quantitative assessment of the patient’s response. Custom-made for individual research centres therefore there are no standard protocols shared universally. Due to the limitations listed above, there are no systems of this type that have achieved commercial success and wide clinical diffusion.
Killer Application
PGAS can become the new standard in a still-empty market due to the bulky size, the low versatility and the too high cost of existing devices. In the future, it would be desirable to develop a commercial prototype in collaboration with a company that produces devices for the detection of the postural response so as to be able to propose to the customer the purchase in a single solution of PGAS and its complementary asset (e.g. force platform)
Our Technology and Solution
PGAS imparts a well-controlled mechanical force to the human body and analyse the postural response of the subject to the perturbation. The core element of the device is the so-called automatic perturbator: a linear actuator (pneumatic or electric), electronically controlled, capable of applying pre-defined force to certain points of the patient’s body. The aim is to study the postural reactions of the subject to sudden perturbations. It is possible to vary, in an easy and intuitive way, the number, the direction, the intensity (from 20 N to 100 N), the duration (from 50 ms to 250 ms) and the point of application of the perturbation. The automatic perturbator can be handheld by an operator or be integrated into a robotic system.
Advantages
PGAS will enjoy a wide diffusion thanks to its scalability, portability, adaptability to different patients and clinical tasks. PGAS allows to change both the magnitude and the point of application of the perturbation. This allows clinicians and researchers the opportunity to explore the patterns of the postural reactions in a complete and clinically consistent way. The easy integration of the PGAS with postural response detection systems (e.g. force platform) allows quantitative analysis of the subject’s response and the extrapolation of a synthetic descriptor of the individual postural performance.
Roadmap
The three main areas in which PGAS is going to work are: R&D, Marketing, Partnership and Sales. The R&D phase takes two years starting from July 2020. This phase was conceptually divided into two part: the initial one, concern the product features to be improved and implemented, will need around 10 months of work. After that, the product development task can start, while the research switches to the definition of the output derived from the device. The results lead to a new scientific standard for the postural diagnosis. The development of the product will last 8 months until January 2022, after that the product can be sold to the early adopters (clinics and research centers open to accept such new technology). During this phase, the scientific research will continue to produce results helped by partnerships with the most enthusiastic customers. In the 2021 also an intense marketing effort will be performed in order to attract more clients to the possible new paradigm.
TRL
The team
