AI-powered
cardiac
imaging
company
HeartFlow
sued
its
competitor
Cleerly
this
week,
claiming
the
company
infringed
on
its
patents
and
misused
proprietary
technology
to
build
a
competing
platform.
The
lawsuit,
filed
Monday
in
a
federal
court
in
Texas,
called
the
alleged
infringement
“one
of
the
most
egregious
examples
of
piracy
in
the
medical
technology
industry.”
Cleerly
is
pushing
back.
Heartflow
was
founded
in
2010
by
a
bioengineer
and
vascular
surgeon
duo
from
Stanford
University.
The
Silicon
Valley-based
company
makes
AI
tools
that
analyze
cardiac
CT
scans
and
assess
how
coronary
blockages
impact
blood
flow
without
invasive
procedures.
Cardiologist
James
Min
established
Cleerly
in
2017.
The
startup
also
applies
AI
to
cardiac
CT
images,
focusing
on
quantifying
plaque
and
assessing
a
patient’s
long-term
risk
of
heart
disease.
Before
founding
Cleerly,
Min
worked
as
a
consultant
to
Heartflow
from
2012
to
2017
—
the
company’s
“most
formative
years,”
according
to
the
complaint.
“After
gaining
intimate
access
to
Heartflow’s
revolutionary
cardiovascular
diagnostic
technology,
trade
secrets,
and
confidential
business
information—and
while
still
bound
by
his
contractual
obligations
to
Heartflow—Dr.
Min,
without
informing
his
colleagues
at
Heartflow,
incorporated
Cleerly
and
launched
a
competing
enterprise
built
upon
Heartflow’s
pioneering
innovations,”
the
lawsuit
read.
Heartflow
alleges
that
Cleerly’s
products
infringe
six
of
its
patents
—
all
of
which
cover
methods
for
analyzing
cardiac
scans,
including
segmenting
coronary
arteries,
modeling
plaque
and
vessel
structure
and
estimating
blood
flow
characteristics.
In
a
statement
sent
to
MedCity
News,
Min
said
that
he
is
confident
in
the
originality
of
Cleerly’s
technology.
“Cleerly
has
published
landmark
clinical
science
that
has
redefined
how
cardiovascular
disease
is
understood
and
treated,
which
has
formed
the
basis
of
our
novel
technologies
that
provide
physicians
with
actionable
insights
into
their
patients’
heart
health,”
Min’s
statement
read.
Heartflow
is
seeking
damages
and
injunction
—
which
could
mean
financial
penalties
for
past
use
of
the
technology
and
potentially
a
court
order
blocking
Cleerly
from
using
or
selling
certain
tools.
The
lawsuit
could
mark
an
early
but
potentially
category-defining
legal
fight
in
the
cardiac
AI
space.
The
combination
of
AI
and
cardiac
imaging
sits
at
the
center
of
high-volume,
high-reimbursement
workflows
—
coronary
CT
angiography
alone
is
performed
in
millions
of
patients
annually
across
the
country
and
is
quickly
expanding
as
a
first-line
test
for
suspected
coronary
artery
disease.
Concurrently,
cardiac
imaging
and
the
related
diagnostic
procedures
represent
a
multi-billion-dollar
market.
Diagnostic
imaging
is
one
of
the
largest
categories
of
the
nation’s
healthcare
spending,
with
imaging
consistently
ranking
among
the
highest-volume
and
highest-cost
physician
services.
This
makes
any
AI
tool
that
influences
cardiac
diagnosis
or
downstream
procedures
highly
valuable
—
and
highly
contested.
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Just_Super,
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