We take matters of the heart very seriously here at XDS.
As a healthcare-focused agency, many of our clients provide life-saving treatments, products, and services to those with a broken heart. At XDS, our mission is to provide our clients with creative and strategic customer experience solutions. We make tools and technology easy to use, engaging, and effective by looking at the complete customer experience, analyzing every touchpoint with the core focus on understanding how real patients interact with an experience. We craft those experiences for intent-rich moments when decisions are made, preferences are shaped, & products are purchased. We are humbled to be using our skills and working on such important projects that are changing people’s lives every day. To celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, we would like to highlight some of our amazing clients that deal in matters of the heart.
CVRx
CVRx® pioneers unique therapies that harness and harmonize the body’s natural systems. A leader in innovative technologies that address the unmet needs in cardiovascular diseases with safe and effective therapies, their goal is to give each patient a fuller life. Headquartered near Minneapolis, Minn., CVRx is dedicated to improving patient outcomes, quality of life, and overall cardiovascular health via novel baroreceptor neuromodulation therapies. THERAPY BAROSTIM NEO is the world’s first neuromodulation device for the treatment of heart failure. BAROSTIM NEO is designed to use the brain to treat the heart by electrically activating the baroreflex, the body’s main cardiovascular reflex, signaling the brain to regulate cardiovascular function. BAROSTIM THERAPY activates baroreceptors in the wall of the carotid artery and stimulates the afferent and efferent pathways of the autonomic nervous system. The brain responds to the therapy by modulating efferent pathways to relax blood vessels, slow the heart rate and reduce fluid in the body via improved kidney function. The placement of the BAROSTIM NEO requires a minimally-invasive procedure under general anesthesia and can be done in an EP or Cath Lab as an outpatient procedure. BAROSTIM NEO was one of the first therapies to receive the FDA’s coveted Breakthrough Device Designation.
Aria CV
Based in St. Paul, Minnesota, Aria CV was founded in 2010 by Drs. John Scandurra and Karl Vollmers, who were members of a team that invented the technology during a fellowship at the University of Minnesota’s Earl E. Bakken Medical Devices Center. Aria has performed a successful acute first in-human clinical study in Vienna, Austria, and is now preparing for a U.S. clinical trial under FDA’s Early Feasibility Study Program to evaluate the safety and efficacy of long-term implants in PAH (Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension) patients. The walls of a healthy pulmonary artery are highly elastic, but in PH they become stiff. The stiffening increases the workload on the heart and reduces the amount of blood flow the heart can deliver to the body. The excess workload can, over time, lead to right heart failure. Aria’s device is designed to mimic the function of the healthy vessels by restoring compliance to the pulmonary vessels. By doing so, it enables the heart to pump more blood for less energy. These effects have the potential to improve the ability to exercise while reducing the burden on the heart. Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) is a progressive and deadly disease that impacts up to 70 million people worldwide, according to Lancet in 2016.
Vesper Medical
Vesper Medical is a privately held company shaping the future of treating deep venous disease through the creation of a next-generation, modular, and uniquely engineered venous stent portfolio that addresses the multiple anatomical challenges presented by the iliac and femoral veins and provides the ability to customize therapy to a broad range of patient needs. Vesper Medical’s leadership team is comprised of professionals who share a passion and commitment to advancing the treatment of deep venous disease. The Vesper DUO Venous Stent System® is designed to be the next-generation venous stent portfolio uniquely engineered to address the multiple anatomical challenges of the deep venous system for the broad range of patients with Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI). One of the main causes of CVI is deep venous obstruction, which occurs when venous pressure increases and the return of blood to the heart is impaired, leading to multiple clinical complications in the lower extremities including pain, swelling, edema, skin changes, and development of venous ulcers. The VIVID Clinical Trial is currently recruiting adult patients who have CVI and are eligible for a venous stent in their iliac or common femoral veins.
Shockwave
In 2009, a marketer, engineer, and cardiologist came together to change the nature of interventional therapy for calcified cardiovascular disease. They envisioned a future in which lithotripsy, a trusted technology used to break kidney stones for more than three decades, could be adapted to crack calcium in undilatable lesions in a potentially easier and safer manner. What started out as a crazy idea is now changing the standard of care for patients with calcified diseases around the globe. The true strength of Shockwave is a remarkable team of talented individuals with experience, creativity, and tenacity. This strong leadership team is reflective of their dedication to developing technologies and applications that enable interventionists to raise the standard of how advanced cardiovascular disease is treated.