Delivering oxygen
where it matters most.
VQ Biomedical is developing a revolutionary, minimally-invasive catheter that delivers supplemental oxygen directly into the bloodstream in hospitalized patients with respiratory failure.
Intravascular Oxygenation Catheter
Unlike mechanical ventilation, our technology will provide gas exchange independent of the injured lungs, allowing them to rest, heal, and recover.
Unlike VV-ECMO, our catheter will provide oxygenation directly to the blood without having to pump any of the patient’s blood outside the body.
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Better For Patients
Lower risk profile than ECMO or mechanical ventilation.
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Better For Providers
Easy to use, operated by a single control.
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Better For Payors
Reduced staffing requirements significantly reduces costs.
Our Story
Our technology was developed in direct response to an unmet clinical need that Dr. Straube first identified early during his time training in Critical Care Medicine at Duke University Hospital.
As an ICU physician, Dr. Straube cares for many patients with lung injuries which result in low blood oxygen levels. Many of these patients have to be connected to a breathing machine, or ventilator, to support their failing lungs. While the ventilator is the standard-of-care used to support such patients, it inherently relies on the damaged and fragile lungs for gas exchange, often resulting in further injury (i.e. ventilator-induced lung injury). Unfortunately, these patients also require deep sedation and can’t talk or eat with the breathing tube in their throat. For patients with the most severe lung injuries, physicians utilize VV-ECMO, a modified heart-lung bypass machine, for life-support. While life-saving, ECMO is associated with considerable risk (organ injury, bleeding, clots) and complexity given that it requires rapidly pumping massive quantities of the patients’ blood through a surgically-connected artificial external lung. Caring for such patients motivated Dr. Straube to begin working on a minimally-invasive, effective, and safe alternative used to treat patients with lung injury.
The team at VQ Biomedical is proud to continue this line of work as we develop our minimally-invasive oxygenator catheter. Our catheter will be used to support patients with lung injury by providing gas exchange directly in the bloodstream independent of the lungs, allowing them to rest, recover, and heal.
The Team
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Galen Robertson
CEO
Mr. Robertson is the cofounder and CEO of VQ Biomedical. He has over 20 years’ experience launching innovative medical devices, in a variety of both small and large companies. Galen was previously the COO and cofounded 410 Medical, developing devices for rapid fluid infusion and rapid blood infusion in the critical care space. In his career he has guided 12 medical devices through the FDA’s 510K process and is an inventor on 90 patents.
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Tobias Straube, MD
CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
Dr. Straube is a co-founder and the Chief Medical Officer at VQ Biomedical. He is also an Assistant Professor at the Duke University School of Medicine in the Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine with significant experience and expertise treating patients with severe respiratory failure (i.e. ARDS) who require mechanical ventilation and/or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. He was the primary inventor of the oxygenation catheter and continues to lead development efforts alongside the engineering team.
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Pat Sterlina, MBA
VP of R&D
Pat is a seasoned senior executive with over 20 years of experience in the medical technology industry, including active intravascular implantable devices, robotic surgical systems, physical therapy devices, and molecular research instrumentation. Pat's expertise spans multidisciplinary technical domains alongside significant experience in operations, quality management, clinical development, and regulatory affairs.
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Stewart Farling, PhD
LEAD ENGINEER
Dr. Farling is a co-founder and the lead engineer at VQ Biomedical. He has significant expertise in membrane transport and developing bench scale systems for steady-state blood oxygenation testing. He completed his PhD thesis developing the technology utilized in our oxygenation catheter
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Marc Deshusses, PhD
PRINCIPAL SCIENTIST
Dr. Deshusses has over three decades of experience leading research and development in chemical engineering. He is a professor at Duke University with extensive expertise in gas-liquid mass transfer, and process and device development and is a co-founder of VQ Biomedical. He previously co-founded 374Water, which Dr. Deshusses helped shepherd from his lab to an IPO within 5 years.
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Bruce Klitzman, PhD
SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR
Dr. Klitzman is Emeritus Associate Professor in Surgery and Biomedical Engineering at Duke with broad experience in the biocompatibility of medical devices, the physiological mechanisms of oxygen utilization and transport, and thrombogenicity of blood-contacting implants. He is a co-founder of VQ Biomedical and continues to advise the team.