Cardiovascular disease remains mankind’s No.1 killer, claiming almost 20 million lives globally every year.
The death toll would soar higher but for a million heart bypass surgeries; yet each of these procedures comes with a cost: the ‘harvesting’ of blood vessels from the patient’s own legs, arms, and chest.
Sadly, harvesting is a painful and intrusive surgery inflicted on an already sick heart patient, adding hugely to the recovery time from the already physically demanding 3-6-hour bypass operation.
Not every bypass works either. There is a 20-30% failure rate during the first year and a 50% failure after five years. I found this out during my own father’s battle with heart disease.
Like many heart patients, he didn’t live a blameless life: he smoked, drank and, after being a keen sportsman, slowly embraced a sedentary lifestyle.
When criticized for indulging in fatty and sugary foods, he would insist he was entitled to it after the years of rationing him and his generation endured in postwar Britain.
Of course, he knew the likely consequences, but never foresaw the true cost of extending his life: three bypass operations – one only partially successful – and the painful harvesting of blood vessels from his legs that led to him becoming less mobile, to the point where his circulation broke down and both lower legs were amputated.
His quality of life went downhill fast from there, and he finally died at 78. If he is watching me as I write this, he would surely applaud Medical 21, an American company working to eliminate this harvesting by creating an artificial graft for bypass surgery.
This graft would also open up heart bypass surgery to many people currently excluded because of harvesting issues: those with amputations, severe diabetes, or varicose veins.
And how the world needs this breakthrough: the Journal of the American College of Cardiology reports that cases almost doubled globally to 523 million over the past three decades, deaths rose from 12.1 million to 18.6 million, while disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and years lived with disability doubled to 34.4 million.
Indeed, few people in the world are untouched by heart disease, whether directly or through their nearest and dearest.
Medical 21 Founder and CEO Manny Villafaña, PhDSc has already positively impacted over 15 million people, through cardiovascular innovations that have led to three exits delivering $57.4 billion in shareholder value, through acquisitions by the likes of Abbott, Boston Scientific, and Medtronic.
These achievements have earned Dr. Villafaña a reputation as the ‘Living Legend of Medicine,’ but he and his Medical 21 team, including medtech engineers, cardiovascular surgeons, researchers, and important figures from world leading institutions, aim to deliver his greatest breakthrough: a pioneering artificial heart graft that eliminates harvesting:
“With our experience and successes, we are ready to pursue the ‘holy grail’ of cardiac surgery with a small diameter graft for bypass surgery that has evaded manufacturers and health institutions for 50 years.”
He explains that Medical 21’s work in materials science and other disciplines has enabled the biocompatible bypass graft, designed to assimilate itself into the patient’s body.
With no need for harvesting, Medical 21 anticipates lower failure rates, a higher quality of life for the patient through less pain and scarring, a faster recovery, and a much lower impact on hospital resources and costs.
It’s a mission that strikes a chord with me and anyone who has previously, currently or may soon face cardiovascular disease, either themselves or in their family.
And they can actively support and invest via Medical 21’s new $40 million RegA+ equity crowdfunding raise, to further develop a real and long-awaited lifesaver, potentially also disrupting a bypass surgery market valued at $10 billion a year.
The Minneapolis-based company, founded in 2016 and funded so far by private investment, will use the $40 million raise to complete clinical studies/human trials for regulatory approval of the new graft, and to scale manufacturing, sales and marketing, and operations in readiness for global delivery of its breakthrough tech.
