The American Heart Association (AHA) and Google Life Sciences (GLS) have teamed-up to bring new, unconventional thinking to understand, prevent, and reverse coronary heart disease and its consequences, such as heart failure and sudden cardiac death. Under the deal, each of the two parties will invest $25 million for a total of $50 million over roughly five years to form a research team that will be tasked with developing a richer, deeper understanding of cardiovascular disease.
“By working together, AHA and Google Life Sciences will be able to serve as the catalyst for change and transformation in reducing the impact of coronary heart disease on people’s lives and alleviating this global burden,” said American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown. “Just imagine if we could reverse coronary artery disease and restore the healthy heart muscle it destroys or, even better, prevent the whole process from beginning in the first place!”
The collaboration will provide the scientific community with channels to technical capabilities and insights offered by Google Life Sciences. This, the press release reads, will empower researchers to conceptualize and test new approaches. On the other hand, AHA will contribute its vast scientific and medical resources, resulting in the application of a unique blend of technical and scientific knowledge to the search for new cardiovascular solutions.
The collaboration will provide the scientific community with channels to technical capabilities and insights offered by Google Life Sciences.“This is a fundamentally different kind of model for funding innovation,” said Andy Conrad, CEO of Google Life Sciences. “The team leader will be able to bring together clinicians, engineers, designers, basic researchers and other experts to think in new ways about the causes of coronary heart disease. We’re already imagining the possibilities when a team like that has access to the full resources of both Google Life Sciences and the AHA — and we can’t wait to see what they discover.”
Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death globally, accounting annually for approximately 17 million deaths, or about one of every three deaths. Coronary heart disease itself is responsible for more than 7 million deaths annually.
More information about the structure of the collaborative will be released as it’s developed in coming months.