ZOLL Medical Corporation, a manufacturer of resuscitation devices and related software, and Laerdal Medical AS, a Norwegian medical device maker, and its U.S. subsidiary, Laerdal Medical Corporation, announced they have entered into a technology licensing agreement to advance real-time cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) feedback.
CPR feedback, marketed as Real CPR Help by ZOLL and as QCPR by Laerdal, is designed to help improve CPR quality during manual CPR by providing rescuers with immediate “real time” feedback related to compression depth and rate.
ZOLL and Laerdal, through its alliance partner, Philips Healthcare, are the only two companies that provide this technology for rescuers.
The latest American Heart Association and European Resuscitation Council guidelines significantly underscore the need to improve the quality of manual CPR to improve survival from sudden cardiac arrest.
“Research has demonstrated that data on CPR performance as well as feedback to rescuers can be critically important to achieving successful outcomes during resuscitation,” said Benjamin Abella, M.D., a noted researcher in CPR performance at the Center for Resuscitation Science, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
“Technologies like the ZOLL and Laerdal devices that can measure and record performance are important capabilities that can have an impact on American Heart Association improvement goals affecting resuscitation success in the future,” Abella said.
In addition to the technology agreements, ZOLL and Laerdal have also agreed to cooperate in activities to further the development of the overall market for CPR feedback technology, including activities such as funding of clinical studies, work to promote healthcare industry standards and educational activities aimed at fostering CPR quality improvement.
“In addition to a modest royalty stream, this agreement represents an important and constructive business arrangement for ZOLL and demonstrates the importance of CPR feedback,” said Richard A. Packer, president and chief executive officer of ZOLL.
Tor Morten Osmundsen, chief executive officer of Laerdal Medical AS said, “Both Laerdal and ZOLL have a goal of supplying rescuers with the best technology available to help them save more lives.”
ZOLL first began offering Real CPR Help on its AED Plus in 2002, three years prior to the emphasis placed on CPR feedback by the American Heart Association. It now offers the technology on both its product line of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and professional defibrillators.
Laerdal has been engaged in research and development of CPR feedback since the late 1990s, including research with centers in the U.S. and Europe which has led to a number of landmark publications.
The first QCPR product arising from this program was launched in late 2005 as part of the HeartStart MRx defibrillator manufactured by Laerdal’s long standing partner, Philips Healthcare. QCPR enables EMS providers to monitor the performance of both the ventilation and compression components of CPR and provides real time audio and visual feedback to the rescuer to help improve that performance.
For information about Zoll call 800 348-9011 or go to www.zoll.com. For information about Laerdal call (800) 227-1143 or go to www.laerdal.com.
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