The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued to HeartFlow its 50th patent. The patent, “Method and System for Patient-Specific Modeling of Blood Flow” (US Patent No. 9,152,757), continues the expansion of company’s patent portfolio based on its non-invasive HeartFlow FFRCT analysis. The company’s co-founder, Charles Taylor, is the named inventor on the patent.
A press release reports that the patent claim is part of a family of patents owned by HeartFlow that include innovations from company co-founder Christopher Zarins, as well as Timothy A Fonte, Gilwoo Choi, and Ying Bai. In addition to its US patent portfolio, HeartFlow is pursuing patent protection in key markets around the world.
It adds the FFRCT platform was developed by combining computational fluid dynamics, image processing and big data technology to produce detailed models of a patient’s cardiovascular anatomy and blood flow. The HeartFlow FFRCT analysis has been evaluated in four large, prospective clinical trials enrolling a total of more than 1,100 patients at major medical centres worldwide. It received CE mark in 2011 and FDA de novo clearance in November 2014.
“Obtaining 50 domestic patents is a milestone for any company, especially one of our size and at this stage,” said John H Stevens, chairman and CEO of HeartFlow. “At our very core, we drive meaningful and continuous innovation. Aggressively protecting our technology is essential to our work.”
Click here for Cardiovascular News’ report on the PLATFORM study, which evaluated the FFRCT system and was presented at the 2015 European Society of Cardiology meeting.
