Scouting Report-Avive:Smart AED to Increase Cardiac Arrest Survival Rates in Underserved Communities
The Driver:
Avive Solutions recently raised $22 million in series A funding. The company develops next-gen automated defibrillators and a software system to increase the survival rate of patients who suffer from sudden cardiac arrest. Avive Solutions’ product features an alert system with a connected defibrillator device for any potential cardiac arrests in the area. The funding round was led by Questa Capital, Catalyst Health Ventures, Irish Angels, and returning investor Laerdal Million Lives Fund. The company will use the funding to further develop its AED platform.
Key Takeaways:
Sudden Cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in the United States, causing approximately 350,000 deaths every year.
Every minute a patient does not receive a shock from an AED, their survival chances decrease by 7% to 10% and nearly 90% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests are fatal.
Despite their best efforts, the average EMS response time in the U.S. is eight to 12 minutes and can be more in underserved communities.
Avive’s emergency response software platform connects with 911 emergency communications centers through a partnership with RapidSOS
The Story:
Avive Solutions was founded in 2017 by Sameer Jafri, Rory Beyer, and Mosely Andrews. The initial idea behind the healthcare tech startup was that anyone, regardless of background, should be able to influence a cardiac arrest event positively. Beyer met Sameer Jafri, the founder, and president of the Los Angeles-based Saving Hearts Foundation, a nonprofit focused on preventing sudden cardiac death, at a Conference where they decided their interests aligned and they began to work on product development. While both Rory and Moseley’s background is technical Sameer’s experience with SCA prevention gave them expertise in approaches to improving survival from SCA, resulting in them forming Avive Solutions. The company’s focus is to lower mortality from SCA with their next-gen AED machine and emergency response software platform. The company’s Avive Connect product which weighs less than two pounds is meant to be lighter and less expensive than AEDs from competitors currently found in offices. Avive’s goal is to price its products several hundred dollars less than those on the market now which usually range from $1,200 to $2,500.
The Differentiators:
As noted, one of the main differentiators for Avive’s product is its size and weight. The Avive Connect weighs approximately two pounds compared to four to seven pounds for current wall-mounted models. In addition, according to Bay Area Inno Avive’s product is designed to operate off a rechargeable cell-phone-sized battery. Key to Avive's mission is to make AED machines more accessible to the public, particularly in underserved areas where survival rates for SCA are only about 10% and can be as low as 1%, according to the company. The chances of survival and life expectancy however rise substantially after people suffering SCA are treated in a hospital, thus the founders desire to get more AEDs in underserved communities. In addition, Avive has partnered with RapidSOS allowing “its platform to seamlessly connect with 911 Emergency Communications Centers (ECCs) and offers incident data-sharing capabilities to providers in an effort to close data gaps that often exist during a cardiac arrest response. ECCs with access to RapidSOS will be able to dispatch Avive Connect AEDs to the location of a cardiac arrest emergency by audibly alerting and displaying a map on the device to navigate bystanders to the location of the person in cardiac arrest” according to the company. This will not only help reduce time until AED use but can dramatically increase survival rates to as high as 40% the company claims.
The Big Picture:
The idea behind Avive Solutions is to target sudden cardiac arrest and improve survival rates through their AED tech and software. By creating a product that is less expensive, lighter, and easy to use (particularly when combined with the RapidSOS system) survival from SCA can be increased. According to one study deployment of such technology by bystanders could save almost 500 lives per year. This could be particularly important in underserved communities where response times for EMS and distances to appropriate treatment facilities can be higher due to a lack of resources. In addition, Avive has developed a “4-Minute City” program that strategically places Avive’s AEDs throughout a city or county and trains members of the community to use them. As noted by the company, this program can “prepare citizens to step up when it matters most to deliver early intervention for cardiac arrest, in communities where there are often significant disparities in outcomes based on socioeconomic status, race, age, and other factors.” While the company is awaiting FDA approval for the device and there still remain questions of reimbursement and potential insurance coverage, assuming these are overcome in the near term, we believe this device holds significant potential for improvement in care and outcomes. As noted in one study from the University of California, “although highly effective when used for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), ...AEDs often are placed in areas of low risk and limited temporal availability”, Avive Solutions could readily address this issue.
Avive Solutions raises $22M for wirelessly connected AED technology, Connected AED company Avive scores $22M
