Challenge
Around 5 million lower abdominal surgical procedures are performed in the NHS each year and this number is increasing due to earlier detection and an ageing population. In the UK over 410,000 of these people have waited more than a year to receive surgery, which is 265 times as many as compared to the pre-COVID era and this number is expected to rise. This challenge is also repeated across the rest of Europe, Canada and USA where over 70 million surgeries are performed annually, It will take many years to clear this backlog unless new solutions are found that increase the efficiency of surgical care pathways, particularly in pre-assessment, to assess patient surgical fitness and plan their post surgical care.
Opportunity
NHS hospital providers and other institutions globally are investing and commissioning remote digital device and AI software innovations to address chronic illnesses. 40% of pre- and post-operative assessment could be delivered remotely, saving the NHS, for example, over 1.2m face to face consultations per year. Pre-operative optimisation could be improved with access to comprehensive patient data predicting patients ‘fitness for surgery’ and potentially reducing 30-day readmissions by as much as 38%.
Solution
The Asclepius Platform will revolutionise pre- and post-operative assessment, analysing combined longitudinal multimodal data sets, powered by predictive algorithms, to more accurately predict patient ‘fitness for surgery’. Supporting clinicians and surgical teams, it will improve shared decision-making to better stratify patient care, reduce the risk of surgical complications, improve patient outcomes, their recovery and earlier discharge. The Asclepius Platform will reduce the number of clinic visits, increase system efficiency and patient pathway optimisation, thus, improving the productivity and capacity of hospitals. Additionally, the platform has been co-designed with patients to enhance user acceptability and is shown to be less costly than Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET).
Status
With significant funding from the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) and charitable bodies. A large observational clinical study, co-designed with PPIE and initiated in December 2022, is currently evaluating the Asclepius Platform as a decision-support platform. Following additional funding from the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) April 2023 and investment from NLC The European Healthtech Venture Builder in July 2023, the next stage for the Asclepius Platform involves upgrading the clinical dashboard, app interface with the sensor and its app to record patient reported data to provide HCPs and surgical teams with comprehensive reports for enhanced decision-making. This will be followed by the integration of validated cloud-based predictive algorithms and additional clinical research; supported by seed investment and non-dilutive grant funding.
Meet the team
Michael Morgan-Curran
CEO
Michael has a successful track record in ethical pharmaceuticals, medical technologies and digital therapeutics. Working for and with some of the world’s best-known pharmaceutical, life science, medical device, telecoms, NGO and research organisations across EMEA, US and Latam, he has built and led teams accountable for market intelligence, strategy, marketing and commercialisation, technology design and development, regulation and market authorisation, pharmacovigilance, clinal trial development, clinical effectiveness and health economics. As an experienced digital healthcare strategist and entrepreneurial commercial leader he will lead Asclepius MedTech Limited as CEO leveraging his extensive experience in scaling up and internationalising MedTech start-ups and SMEs.
Prof. David Jayne
Clinical Advisor
David is Bowel Cancer UK & RCS(Engl) Professor of Surgery at the University of Leeds and Hon. Consultant Surgeon at NHSLTHT. Clinical Director of Leeds NIHR Surgical Technologies Co-operative’s national network of clinicians, academics, patients, public, and commercial partners developing solutions to unmet surgical need. A practising colorectal surgeon, David is committed to improving the quality of life and outcomes for patients with bowel disorders, and tackling morbidity associated with major surgery. As Clinical Advisor David brings a wealth of experience in technology evaluation for clinical application, ensuring Asclepius’s remote preoperative innovation informs better shared decision-making and stratified treatment pathways.
Dr. Neville Young
Market Access Advisor
Neville completed his Molecular Embryology doctorate from Kings College London, before working at the Institute of Cancer Research, London and then the Institute of Molecular Bio-Sciences, Queensland, Australia. Returning to the UK he worked in research development at the NIHR. He is currently Director of Enterprise and Innovation at Yorkshire & Humber AHSN, Chair of the National Pathology Imaging Collaborative steering committee, an NIA Board member and member of the NIHR Impact Advisory Board. As Market Access Advisor he will apply his considerable track record in translational research and innovation to bring Asclepius’s innovation to the UK and international markets.
Ramm Mylvaganam
CTO
Ramm is driven by the principle ‘great People make great Products’ for mutual and sustainable profit. Practicing this principle underpinned his long-term success at Mars Inc. working internationally as Strategic Business Development Director. Surprised by the lack of analytical frameworks in elite sports Ramm founded ProZone. Focusing on football and rugby sports his innovative team transformed sporting analytical processes and achieved demonstratable commercial success. As Asclepius’s CTO, building upon his extensive experience in transformational sports data and business information analytics, Ramm will facilitate the development of its interactive patient data analytical service, delivering intuitive insights to assist healthcare professional decision-making.
Nicholas Ibery
Partner UK & Venture Partner
Nick joined NLC in July 2022 from a London-based VC fund where he led European Life Sciences investments and was a Member of the Fund’s Investment Committee. Over the past ten years, he has backed several high-profile companies, including taking one from Series A to IPO in the USA. Nick started his career as a surgeon, specialising in neurosurgery. He holds medicine and law degrees, including a master’s degree in Surgical Technology from Imperial College London and an MBA from London Business School. Nick is eager to leverage his experience and knowledge to help NLC build ventures and advance health.