Head to Head: Ultromics
We sit down with Ross Upton and Paul Leeson from Ultromics, one of WCFI’s new tenants, to find out a bit more about them and what Ultromics is up to.
In your own words briefly explain what your business does
Ultromics develops echo-based diagnostic support tools for cardiovascular disease, the largest cause of death globally, by combining deep clinical insight with machine learning and one of the largest commercially consented echocardiographic databases in the world. Our revolutionary tools help doctors make consistent and accurate diagnoses, without disrupting clinical workflow, to ensure patients are not referred for unnecessary surgery, or sent home with a potentially fatal disease.
Our introductory product EchoGo is the world’s first, outcomes driven, AI-based, ultrasound diagnostic support tool for coronary artery disease.
How did you start your company?
CEO and co-founder Ross Upton developed the algorithms behind Ultromics’ echocardiography analysis technology as a PhD student at the University of Oxford, along with co-founder Paul Leeson, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at The University. They launched the business in the Spring of 2017, securing £2 million in seed funding from Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI). Ultromics has since raised over 10 million in series A investments to help bring the technology to market globally.
What are you working on at the moment?
We are currently working towards obtaining FDA clearance and a CE mark which we anticipate will be granted in 2019. This will allow us to begin implementing EchoGo into hospitals and clinics to start improving patient outcomes.
We are currently conducting multiple clinical trials in the U.S. and UK, including expanding our largest study (EVAREST) to 30 different hospitals across the NHS. Our next innovation will be to completely automate EchoGo, which will help provide an almost instantaneous result to clinicians. This will be accomplished by utilising newer deep learning frameworks, which are being refined at the moment by our research and development teams.
What made you choose WCFI as the new home for your business?
The Wood Centre for Innovation is the ideal building for us as we wanted to be located amongst other companies working in the advanced science and technology sectors, as well as being located a stone’s throw from the John Radcliffe Hospital and Cardiovascular Clinical Research Facility, where much of our research takes place.
What projects/ambitions do you have for the future of your company?
Our ambition is to make EchoGo available in U.K. and U.S. – based healthcare facilities in 2019. We are also preparing to conduct our Series B funding round to fuel our continued research and expansion into new diagnostic arenas in echocardiography.
Find out more about Ultromics at www.ultromics.com
If you are interested in space at the new centre, email wcfi@oxin.co.uk or call the Wood Centre for Innovation team on 01865 261400 to arrange a tour
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