EXTON, Pa., Aug. 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lungpacer Medical Inc. today announced that its AeroPace System has been nominated for the 2026 Prix Galien USA Award for Best Medical Technology. Widely regarded as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in medical technology research, the Prix Galien recognizes outstanding innovations with the potential to significantly improve the human condition. Winners will be honored at the Prix Galien USA Awards Ceremony in October, marking the 20th anniversary of the Prix Galien USA awards program.
Every day, hundreds of thousands of critically ill patients around the world depend on mechanical ventilation to survive. But the machine that saves their lives can also weaken them: within days, ventilator-induced diaphragm dysfunction can leave patients too weak to breathe on their own, prolonging time on the ventilator and increasing the risk of complications, tracheostomy, and death. The AeroPace System was created to change that. Approved by the FDA in December 2024 for patients on mechanical ventilation, AeroPace is the first and only therapy of its kind, using a temporary intravascular catheter to stimulate the phrenic nerves and activate, strengthen, and recondition the diaphragm so patients can reclaim the ability to independently breathe again.
The nomination honors pioneering scientific work that began at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in British Columbia, Canada, and a mission shaped by personal loss. In December 2006, SFU neuroscientist and professor Dr. Andy Hoffer traveled to his mother’s bedside after she was hospitalized with pneumonia and placed on a ventilator. Watching her grow weaker with every failed attempt to breathe on her own, Dr. Hoffer conceived a new approach: a temporary catheter, placed in a vein the way ICU teams place central lines every day, that could deliver precise electrical pulses to the phrenic nerves and exercise the diaphragm. His mother never came off the ventilator, but within weeks of her passing he had filed his first patent, and in 2009 SFU partnered with him to spin off Lungpacer Medical. Dr. Hoffer worked alongside Dr. Steven Reynolds, a practicing critical care physician at Royal Columbian Hospital and professor at SFU, whose early preclinical and first-in-human research helped carry the concept from the laboratory to the bedside.
For CEO Doug Evans, the mission is equally personal. In 2012, his 14-year-old son Cameron was battling leukemia and spent his final months fighting to come off mechanical ventilation. Evans, a veteran medical device executive who had just led the sale of Kensey Nash, joined Lungpacer as CEO in 2014, bringing together a team of scientists and engineers to advance the technology. The company has now progressed AeroPace through a decade of clinical development, FDA premarket approval in December 2024, and now commercial launch at leading U.S. hospitals.
"Every family that has stood beside a loved one on a ventilator knows what is at stake in that room and my family does too," said Doug Evans, CEO of Lungpacer Medical. "This nomination belongs to every patient who has fought to take a breath without a machine, to the healthcare professionals who have cared for them and to everyone involved in the Lungpacer journey who has spent nearly two decades working to develop a better solution. What began at two bedsides, Dr. Hoffer's mother's and my son's, and grew through the pioneering work of Simon Fraser University and our team at Lungpacer, is now transforming lives in ICUs across the country. To see AeroPace recognized alongside the world's most important medical innovations is a profound honor, and a reminder of why we do this work."
About Lungpacer Medical
Lungpacer Medical is a medical technology company focused on improving outcomes for critically ill patients through innovative neurostimulation therapies designed to restore natural physiology, accelerate recovery, and reduce the burden of care.
The AeroPace System is indicated to improve weaning success in patients on mechanical ventilation for at least 96 hours. The system delivers temporary transvenous stimulation of the phrenic nerves to activate the diaphragm, integrating into standard ICU workflows without requiring surgical implantation. Not for use in patients with implantable electronic devices. ISI: https://go.lungpacer.com/isi
Learn more at Lungpacer.com and connect on LinkedIn.
Media Contact: media@lungpacer.com
