SFU spinoff Lungpacer Medical Inc. has received the Most Promising Pre-Commercial Technology Impact Award from the BC Technology Industry Association (BCTIA). It is the company’s 5th award to date.

Lungpacer is an early-stage medical device company based on the transvenous diaphragm pacing device of Biomedical Physiology professor Andy Hoffer. From the BCTIA news release:

The most expensive hospital in-patients are intensive care unit patients who have become ventilator-dependent. To combat the weaning issues of these patients, Lungpacer developed the Lungpacer IntraVenous Electrode (LIVE) lead that deploys near the phrenic nerves that controls the diagphram. For the health care industry, savings from the Lungpacer system can be tremendous; recovering the capital cost of one Control Unit in just 5 patient-days of saved ICU time.