Cor.Sync: Brazilian device provides innovative heart attack diagnosis

 Raul de Macedo Queixada was 25 years old when he was admitted to the emergency room of a hospital in 2016 with chest pains. There, he discovered that it could be a heart attack caused by stress and anxiety. However, the diagnosis was not confirmed until more than five hours later, when the first test results were available.

Queixada, a mechatronics engineer who has worked in the medical device industry since 2012, identified a critical problem in the healthcare system. “I went to the hospital with chest pain, was seen by the medical staff, who collected tests to assess the possibility of a heart attack, and I waited about five hours for the initial results,” he recalls. “I was only discharged after eight hours of observation.”

Queixada began an independent study based on this experience that later became a master’s thesis in biomedical engineering. After achieving promising preliminary results, he founded the startup Cor.Sync in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2019. “With my engineer’s perspective, I thought, ‘it’s not possible that such an acute and frequently fatal disease takes so long to diagnose in an emergency room.’”

Cor.Sync’s technology stands out because of its approach and speed. According to Queixada, the solution detects cardiac troponin, the benchmark biomarker for heart attacks, much faster than laboratory blood tests. “In the lab, this test takes one to five hours to complete. We do it in eight minutes with the same accuracy,” he says.

This is possible thanks to the company’s patented method, which uses surface plasmon resonance instead of the more conventional chemiluminescence or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). “Cor.Sync has created a rapid point-of-care test with a coefficient of variation of about 6% error, according to preliminary tests. This is the same error rate as the laboratory test,” he explains. “Point-of-care” (POC) or “point-of-care testing” (POCT) refers to a diagnostic test performed at the point of care, such as at a hospital bedside, without sending samples to a laboratory.

Supported by FAPESP’s Innovative Research in Small Businesses Program (PIPE), Cor.Sync was one of ten companies invited by the Foundation to present at the University of São Paulo (USP) stand at the VivaTech international trade fair, one of Europe’s largest technology and startup events. It will take place from June 11th to 14th in Paris.

The theme of VivaTech 2025 is the new frontiers of technological innovation from economic, geopolitical, social, and environmental perspectives. Last year, 165,000 people visited the various stands at the fair.

For Queixada, this represents not only an opportunity for the company but also validation for the Brazilian innovation ecosystem. “It’s a chance to show that Brazil can be a source of healthcare innovation.”

The researcher hopes to demonstrate the relevance of the solution. “Europe is a hotbed of innovation in healthcare. France, Germany, and Switzerland are home to some of the world’s leading medical device manufacturers,” he comments. “Many investors and leading hospitals are waiting for this type of solution, but they have only been looking at alternatives from Europe, the United States, or Japan. Being there shows that a lot of good things are created in Brazil because we have enormous potential for innovation and generating scientific knowledge.”

Cor.Sync has received international recognition at trade shows in Spain and England, and it is already working to expand its presence in Europe as part of its internationalization strategy. “If we start setting up the company in Europe now, the clinical study will probably begin in a year or two. It’s a process that, the sooner it starts, the faster it’ll show results. We hope that our participation in VivaTech will accelerate this stage.”

High precision

The researcher points out that the currently available rapid tests for detecting heart attacks are not very accurate. “Today, there are tests with diagnostic accuracy, which take time, and rapid tests, which are not accurate and often require additional tests or lead to misdiagnosis. The great revolution is that we’ve achieved the best of both worlds for the first time: we’ve developed the first point-of-care test with diagnostic accuracy.”

Queixada explains that a heart attack is an acute event with a wide range of symptoms and clinical presentations. It is often accompanied by arterial occlusion, or blockage of an artery. Depending on its severity, this condition can lead to death within hours or days, though not instantly. “With arterial occlusion, the myocardium, or heart muscle, stops receiving the blood and oxygen it needs to function properly. If this condition persists or worsens, the heart can become weak, resulting in heart failure or even death.”

According to the researcher, the most alarming fact is that 62% of these deaths in Brazil occur in hospitals, affecting approximately 120,000 people per year. “The individual feels the symptoms and goes to the hospital, but due to the delay in diagnosing a heart attack, they don’t receive the correct treatment in time. In these cases, we can help.”

The startup’s name reflects its purpose. “’Cor’ is ‘heart’ in Latin, and ‘sync’ comes from ‘synchrony,’ since the test is fast and consistent with the time required by the body,” explains Queixada. “We’re in sync with the time the heart needs.”

Diagnostic platform

Cor.Sync’s solution consists of a physical device and software that interprets blood test results alongside the patient’s clinical data. The algorithm emulates the expertise of a specialized cardiologist and considers the unique characteristics of each patient. For example, women often experience different symptoms and have different troponin levels during heart attacks. “This is crucial because not every healthcare service has an experienced cardiologist available 24 hours a day,” the researcher points out. “Often, the patient is seen by a resident physician, a professional from another specialty, or a general practitioner who doesn’t have the same experience as a cardiologist.”

Cor.Sync is currently focused on diagnosing heart attacks, but its technology can be used for other tests. “We’ve created a diagnostic platform, and the same method can be applied to other biomarker or pathogen tests. We have a roadmap for developing other tests and should soon have a diverse portfolio.”

Clinical studies

The device is in the final stages of preclinical studies, and the team is preparing to begin clinical studies, which is a mandatory step for in vitro diagnostic medical devices. During this phase, the results obtained with the device will be compared with those of the current gold standard, laboratory tests. “We don’t yet have the product ready for sale or approval from the National Health Surveillance Agency [ANVISA, the federal agency that regulates medicines and health technologies and procedures in Brazil]. The expectation is that clinical studies will begin later this year and that the test will be available for sale next year.”

In addition to its obvious life-saving benefits, Cor.Sync’s technology has the potential to deliver significant savings for healthcare systems. Individuals who suffer heart attacks and develop heart failure represent a high ongoing cost. “For the Unified Health System [the Brazilian national public health network, known as the SUS, its acronym in Portuguese] and health insurance plans, these patients are very expensive because they require periodic multidisciplinary follow-up and often need to be readmitted to the hospital,” notes Queixada.

A faster and more accurate diagnosis reduces the extent of heart failure resulting from heart attacks. This improves patients’ quality of life and reduces the financial and social costs of long-term treatment.