Development and validation of a diagnostic instrument to detect platelet activation levels from whole blood samples.

该项目涉及技术的开发和验证，该技术可作为医疗诊断工具，用于量化高危个体或正在接受心血管事件治疗的血小板活化。预期的产品将使临床医生能够评估抗血小板治疗的有效性，并使患者在没有专业帮助的情况下经常监测他们的血小板活化水平，这是患心血管损伤（如中风）的可能性的一个指标。医疗诊断市场是一个非常大的市场，由高资本公司主导。尽管如此，这个市场也存在监管规定，但它对新技术以及通过专利或专有技术将其商业化的公司持开放态度。在北美，心血管部门占健康相关费用的很大一部分。在世界这一地区，29%的死亡是由心血管疾病造成的。超过80%的加拿大人被认为有患心血管疾病的风险。这些疾病是北美致残的主要原因。虽然血小板活化被认为是心血管事件的重要指标和治疗效果的重要指标，但在临床或家庭没有常规的检测方法可以准确地测量它。例如，由于患心血管疾病的人比患糖尿病的人多三倍以上，我们的技术提供的这种测试可以很容易地创造一个与现有便携式血糖传感器一样大的市场。便携式葡萄糖传感器的市场预计在未来五年内销售额将超过90亿美元。

This project involves the development and validation of Technology that can be used as medical diagnostic tools to quantify platelet activation in individual at-risk, or being treated for cardiovascular events. The products contemplated will allow clinicians to assess the effectiveness of anti-platelet therapies and patients to monitor frequently and without professional assistance their level of platelet activation, which is an indicator o the likelihood of suffering a cardiovascular injury such as a stroke.The medical diagnostic market is a very large market that is dominated by high-capitalisation companies. Despite this and the presence of regulations in this market, it is open to novel technologies and to companies commercialising them through patents or know-how.The cardiovascular sector occupies a large portion of the health-related costs in North America. In this part of the world, 29% of all deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases. More than 80% of Canadians are considered at risk for cardiovascular diseases. These diseases are the leading cause of invalidity in North America. Although platelet activation is known to be an important indicator of cardiovascular events and an important indicator of treatment efficiency, no routine tests are available to accurately measure it in the clinic or at home. A test such as that offered by our Technology could easily create a market as large as that existing for portable glucose sensors, for example, as more than three times more individuals suffer from cardiovascular diseases than from diabetes. The market for portable glucose sensors is expected to exceed 9 billion dollars US in sales within the next five years.