deeptech Archeon sets out to conquer the United States

2023-05-12 15:11:00

Cardiac arrest remains the number one cause of death worldwide and affects nearly 7 million people a year. The survival rate is only 5% and has not improved significantly despite the massive adoption of automatic defibrillators. Over the past ten years, American studies, and in particular a research team at the Besançon University Hospital, have shown that well-managed ventilation doubles the chances of survival (1).

However, if in a hospital, the patient benefits from the best technologies, in an emergency situation, the first aiders often use manual methods. However, without a measuring tool, it is difficult to know if the mask is correctly positioned or if the rescuer is injecting the right amount of oxygen into the lungs and at sufficient frequencies. This is why Pierre-Edouard Saillard and Alban De Luca, co-founders of Archeon, invented Eolife: « We have developed artificial intelligence algorithms which – using measurements of oxygen concentration, CO2, oxygen flow, intra-thoracic pressure – make it possible to define the patient’s pulmonary profile, and thus to identify its ventilation needs. The device, called EOlife, then gives information to the care teams on the right quantity to be administered to the patient because it is able to analyze the quantity of oxygen that has actually reached the inside of the victim’s lungs. Deeptech’s ambition, through its medical device, is to put ventilation back at the heart of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Ventilation: a public health issue

61% of cardiac arrest survivors experience pneumonia after 7 days due to hyperventilation (2). ” If the rescuer manages to send oxygen to the lungs but sends too much, he can create pulmonary edema, that is to say that the patient can no longer breathe. So even if it continues to send oxygen to the lungs, it does not arrive in the blood. “, explains Alban De Luca.

In addition to saving lives, good ventilation also reduces the time spent in intensive care. ” Knowing that a day in intensive care in the United States costs 20,000 dollars, our solution could greatly reduce the cost of a patient treated for cardiac arrest “says Pierre-Edouard Saillard.

Conquering the American market: a fundamental step

« The American market represents 40% of the world market, i.e. 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests », emphasizes Pierre-Edouard Saillard, co-founder of Archeon. ” The use of Eolife would save 25,000 lives per year “, he continues. By way of comparison, in France, it is 50,000 extra-hospital cardiac arrests, according to the French society of emergency medicine (SFMU). This arrival on the American market is a fundamental step for the Besançon deeptech created in 2018, which succeeded in the challenge of obtaining FDA validation in less than two years, compared to the usual 5 to 6 years. ” Which proves how our product fills a gap and how robust our technology is says Alban De Luca, co-founder of Archeon.

Another advantage of the American market: the financing of the product. In the United States, private structures fund ambulance services. ” The companies are financed by the mutuals. There is therefore a certain competition on the services rendered. They must prove that they have the best services to be chosen by mutuals or insurance companies », explains Pierre-Edouard Saillard. Unlike France, where it is the departments that vote the budgets of the firefighters, for example.

The company has experienced rapid growth since 2020 with the launch of the Eolife product in France, then in Europe in 2021. Archeon announced in February 2022 a fundraising of 5.5 million euros to continue the development of new ventilation in more than 15 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and North America. Next step: develop the distribution network in North America, its most important market. ” Our objective is to set up a sales team across the Atlantic by the end of the year so that each distributor covers one or more statess,” says Alban De Luca.

Since Archeon hit the market about three years ago, other players have been interested in ventilation. This is why the startup has already filed nine patents. For now, however, some competitors are emerging in South Korea, such as Medicion, or in Asia, but no direct competitors in the United States.

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(1) Khoury A, De Luca A, Sall FS, Pazart L, Capellier G. Ventilation feedback device for manual ventilation in simulated respiratory arrest a crossover manikin study Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2019 Oct 22;27(1):93

(3) Tsai MS, Chiang WC, Lee CC, et al. Infections in the survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the first 7 days. Intensive Care Med. 2005;31(5):621-626.