Center for Advancing Point of Care Technologies (CAPCaT) Administrative Supplement

RESEARCH SUMMARY/ABSTRACTThe goal of this initiative is to fast-track the implementation of carefully selected CAPCaT-supportedprojects that can help address the urgent healthcare issues created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Theextent and urgency of the situation requires an aggressive approach to accelerate the delivery of solutions toaddress the immediate needs. The proposed approach augments the strong technical, clinical andcommercialization expertise of CAPCaT to get needed solutions into practice within weeks to months.The Center for Advancing Point of Care Technologies (CAPCaT) in Heart, Lung, Blood, and SleepDiseases is an offshoot of a highly successful medical product incubator, the Massachusetts Medical DeviceDevelopment Center (M2D2) at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Medical School campuses. Thefounding goal of M2D2 was to accelerate the development of medical devices, combining the engineering andbusiness expertise of UMass Lowell (UML) with the clinical expertise of UMass Medical School (UMMS) inWorcester. Expanding upon the vision and success of M2D2, the goal of CAPCaT is to support projects to develop and optimize novel point of care technologies (POCT) to improve the diagnosis and management ofheart, lung, blood, and sleep diseases. We have focused on these diseases because of the significantmorbidity, mortality, and cost associated with these diseases. Combined, these diseases account for 41% ofdeaths in the US and lead to over $400B in direct health care expenses plus lost income to affected patientsand caregivers. UMass has an established track record of clinical expertise and technology development in theHLBS diseases. CAPCaT funds projects that are in the later stages of POCT development, with a focus on theclinical validation of those devices. CAPCaT, along with M2D2, has a network of industry partners and fundersto support the development and commercialization of promising technologies. Among our industry partners areJohnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific, Amgen, and Hologic.CAPCaT is one of four Point of Care Technology Research Network (POCTRN) Centers (Emory/GA Tech,Northwestern, and Johns Hopkins University house the others). CAPCaT has worked with the other POCTRNCenters and its Coordinating Center (CIMIT-Mass General Hospital) and our scientific and program officers atNHLBI and NIBIB to review the situation and to understand unmet needs and resources accessible by thenetwork that can make a difference.