Cascade Metrix Awarded $2.5M NIH SBIR Grant to Advance AutoPlexer™ for Critical Care

Three-year award will drive clinical validation and commercialization of a patient-connected analyzer addressing unmet needs in sepsis care and beyond.

FISHERS, IN, UNITED STATES, September 29, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Cascade Metrix (CMX) announced today that it has been awarded a $2.5 million, three-year Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The award will support further development and clinical validation of the AutoPlexer™, a next-generation automated multiplex analyzer designed for real-time biochemical monitoring in critical care settings.

CMX is building on the promising preclinical development work successfully completed under a Phase I SBIR grant of $350,000 that was complemented by a $50,000 matching grant from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. CMX will now deploy the Phase II funding to develop a clinical-grade version of the device and carry out human studies ahead of filing for FDA regulatory approval.

The AutoPlexer is a pioneering device that enables fully automated, patient-connected real-time blood analysis without any blood loss, addressing the limitations of traditional laboratory methods that are manual, error-prone, and require frequent blood draws that cumulatively contribute to anemia in long-stay ICU patients. By delivering timely results, AutoPlexer supports early recognition and more effective monitoring of therapeutic interventions, both of which are crucial for improving outcomes in critical care.

“This NIH Phase II award is a major milestone for Cascade Metrix,” said Kislaya Kunjan, Ph.D., MBA, Principal Investigator and the company’s co-founder and CEO. “CMX will accelerate commercialization of the AutoPlexer platform, beginning with lactate, glucose, hemoglobin, and oxygen saturation — parameters vital for early sepsis recognition and management. Several other critical care biomarkers are also being developed for integration into the platform.”

“A system that delivers oxygen saturation data along with several other important critical lab results from a central venous catheter would be transformative for critical care,” said Rajat Kapoor, MD, MBA, Critical Care Physician in the Indianapolis Metro area and clinical advisor to CMX. “These parameters are essential for timely diagnosis and management of patients with sepsis, post-cardiac surgery complications, and other critical conditions.”

CMX exemplifies Indiana’s growing life sciences sector, and this award highlights the strength of the state’s innovation ecosystem — from IEDC and the Applied Research Institute to the many local organizations that support life sciences innovation — while underscoring the potential for Indiana MedTech companies to impact global healthcare.

About Cascade Metrix
Cascade Metrix is an Indiana-based medical technology company developing the AutoPlexer, a patient-connected blood analyzer that automates continuous, multi-analyte monitoring in critical care settings. Learn more at www.cascademetrix.com.

Acknowledgment
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R44GM146498. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Kislaya Kunjan
Cascade Metrix
kkunjan@cascademetrix.com
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.