Artedrone Successfully Demonstrates the Ability to Autonomously Perform End to End Mechanical Thrombectomy in Various Preclinical Studies With the Revolutionary SASHA Autonomous Micro-Robotic Solution

• Pre-Clinical Results Demonstrate the Potential of SASHA platform in democratizing mechanical thrombectomy procedures, marking a paradigm shift in stroke treatment
• New research findings build on Company momentum following recent appointment of Liane Teplitsky as CEO and addition of Nnamdi Njoku and Dan Raffi to Board of Directors

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Artedrone, Truffle Capital’s medtech portfolio company developing an autonomous microrobotic solution for mechanical thrombectomy (MT) procedures to treat patients suffering from a stroke, announced the successful completion of a set of various in vitro and animal studies demonstrating the ability of the company’s SASHA microrobotic solution to autonomously perform mechanical thrombectomy. Results from the study are being submitted for publication in to a research journal.

Strokes are the second cause of mortality and third cause of disability worldwide, and acute ischemic strokes (AIS) are extreme emergencies affecting more than 11.5 million people worldwide according to the Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology. Stroke outcomes are heavily dependent on the patient’s access to immediate care, with mechanical thrombectomy (removal of the clot blocking a brain artery) for ischemic stroke treatment being the current standard of care. A patient who receives thrombectomy treatment within the first six hours after the event has up to three times better outcome. Despite this, only a small percentage of patients have access to a competent Thrombectomy Stroke Center.

“Despite the severe burden of large vessel strokes globally, there is limited access to life-saving treatments for patients,” said Liane Teplitsky, CEO of Artedrone. “These results bring us one step closer to our goal of bringing cutting-edge technology to market that will democratize complex stroke interventions, which will dramatically change the treatment landscape.” While there are few neurovascular centers able to perform thrombectomies, there are far more cardiology centers able to perform vascular interventions. Artedrone’s SASHA will allow cardiologists and radiologists to perform thrombectomy. The technology is based on magnetic autonomous micro-robots.

The preclinical program for SASHA is evaluating mechanical thrombectomy performance in a variety of settings – including in vitro and in vivo porcine cerebral anatomies, as well as in vitro human cerebral vasculature. In each of the previous models, pre- and post-procedure vessel perfusion was analyzed to confirm the effectiveness of the microrobot design. Most notably, the latest successful preclinical milestone examined both biological analog clot and native clot retrieval from in-vivo porcine cerebral anatomy.

“Mechanical thrombectomy is by far the most efficient treatment for large vessel stroke but is currently highly underused due to the fact that it is often only performed at specialized stroke centers, which denies life-saving treatment access to millions of patients,” said Pr. Frédéric Clarençon, Head of the Department of Interventional Neuroradiology at Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital and a principal investigator on the study. “We’re encouraged by these preclinical results and will be conducting additional studies to advance SASHA as a means to expand access to mechanical thrombectomy for stroke patients around the world.”

About Artedrone

Artedrone, founded by Truffle Capital, is currently developing SASHA, an autonomous microrobotic solution for mechanical thrombectomy in patients recovering from a stroke. The Company’s goal is to create, build and introduce technology that will democratize procedures and improve outcomes for stroke patients around the world. By introducing SASHA, Artedrone seeks to offer a solution that can be performed by more clinicians in more facilities – allowing for greater access to mechanical thrombectomy procedures.

For more information on Artedrone, visit www.artedrone.com or follow on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/artedrone/.