LSI Alumni Innovator Spotlight: Flow Medical’s Jennifer Fried

Flow Medical Co-Founder and CEO Jennifer Fried is leading one of the most closely watched developments in pulmonary embolism (PE) treatment, bringing precision medicine principles into a space long limited by guesswork. Backed by expert clinical founders and growing momentum from clinicians and investors, the company is preparing for major preclinical and regulatory milestones. With a next-generation catheter designed to personalize lytic dosing in real time, Flow Medical is aiming to redefine how PE patients are treated.

A Personal, Clinical, and Market Inflection Point

Flow Medical’s story began at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where interventional cardiologist Dr. Jonathan Paul and interventional radiologist Dr. Osman Ahmed co-lead the venous thromboembolism (VTE) program. The clinical inflection point came in 2020 as COVID-19 drove a surge in deep venous thrombosis and subsequent PE cases. Paul and Ahmed saw innovation racing ahead in large-bore thrombectomy (LBT) catheters, yet many of their patients were not ideal candidates for those devices. “We had all these new devices coming forward, but they were actually seeing more patients benefit from catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT), because many of the clots are in the more distal vasculature, and they can’t access those with large-bore devices,” Jennifer Fried explained. That gap led them to pursue a next-generation thrombolysis catheter designed specifically for the pulmonary vasculature.

Fried entered the picture in 2023. The timing was personal as well as professional, as her father had recently been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer that increases the risk of dangerous clots. After meeting the founders, she spent six months advising Flow Medical and conducting her own due diligence. “I kept looking for reasons not to join, because I know how hard it is to build an early-stage medtech company, but I was so called by everything I was seeing,” she said. Moved by both the clinical opportunity and the strength of the founding team, Fried stepped into the role of Co-Founder and CEO.

A Deadly Disease That Remains Underserved

Globally, more than three million people die each year from PE. Within the U.S., there are roughly 600,000 PE events annually. Furthermore, PE is the third leading cardiovascular killer and the number one cause of preventable in-hospital mortality. “It affects everybody: old, young, Black, white, or brown. In the U.S., it is a top cause of maternal mortality, and PE differently impacts young women, including top athletes like Serena Williams,” Fried emphasized.

“Despite this being a major public health problem and there being great reimbursement, we have not seen a change in the most important metric for these PE patients: mortality, which has hovered at 15% for the last 20 years,” Fried said.

A large contributor is the low adoption of advanced therapies. “When you look at markets like myocardial infarction, 90% of patients who are eligible for advanced therapies go into the lab and receive intervention. For PE patients, it’s only 15 to 20%,” she noted.

The risk stratification of PE patients places them into three primary treatment categories: anticoagulation alone, catheter-based therapies, and systemic thrombolysis. In the intermediate- to high-risk group, there are two choices for catheter-based therapies: CDT and LBT. Within this treatment group, many patients will have thrombus in both the large proximal vessels and the small distal vessels, and LBT is only able to address the large proximal vessels. 

CDT, on the other hand, is the most studied advanced therapy and is associated with lower mortality rates and improved right ventricular recovery vs. systemic anticoagulation alone. However, this approach has significant issues with proper lytic dosing. Practices vary widely, from two-hour to 24-hour infusions, and both under- and over-treatment carry serious risks. If there is too much lytic, patients face bleeding complications; if there is too little, significant clot can remain and later become chronic. As Fried summarized, “Every patient is different. Some may need two, and some may need 24. For a disease killing more than three million people across the globe every year, these patients deserve more than guesswork.”

Inside Flow Medical’s Precision Thrombolysis Catheter

Flow Medical’s catheter is designed to solve the two biggest limitations of current CDT tools: imprecise lytic delivery and the inability to tailor therapy to each patient. The system combines three core features that together represent a step forward for PE intervention: an expandable infusion scaffold, an outer sheath for high-pressure diagnostic angiography, and a fiber-optic sensor for real-time hemodynamic monitoring.

The scaffold is engineered with hollow nitinol tubing and laser-cut holes that allow thrombolytic agents to perfuse directly into the clot and then downstream into smaller vessels. By expanding to match the length of the thrombus, it maximizes drug-to-clot contact. Fried explained, “We're maximizing surface contact so every drop of tPA can be more effective, going directly into the proximal clot and then going downstream to clean out the distal vessels.”

To support efficient imaging, the outer sheath enables high-pressure pulmonary angiograms without requiring device exchanges. Physicians can see exactly where they are and precisely target therapy in real time.

The fiber-optic sensor is the most distinctive feature. It continuously tracks pulmonary artery pressure on both sides, giving physicians immediate feedback on how a patient is responding to therapy. “Because our device allows physicians to see pulmonary artery pressure in real time, they can customize therapy for each patient,” Fried said.

Why Now: Data, Trials, and a Growing Treatment Gap

Despite the progress in LBT, innovation in CDT has stalled. As Fried noted, “We have seen innovation stall in catheter-directed thrombolysis, where we have seen one new device in the last 20 years.” Meanwhile, the field is preparing for a wave of randomized controlled trials that will evaluate the safety and efficacy of catheter-based interventions compared with anticoagulation alone. 

“These trials are going to read out in the next few years, and that is when we really anticipate the biggest inflection point this industry has seen in the adoption of catheter-based therapies,” she said.

Flow Medical’s development timeline is intentionally aligned with this shift. As randomized data emerges, hospitals will have clearer guidance on when to intervene and which patients benefit most from CDT. This creates an opportunity for a next-generation tool designed to bring consistency and clarity to dosing.

Building Momentum

Flow Medical originated at the University of Chicago in 2020 and was incorporated in 2022. Early funding through an NIH SBIR grant enabled the first generation of prototypes. When Fried joined in 2023, the company accelerated engineering, preclinical work, and its manufacturing strategy.

“We have done over three dozen animals, achieved design freeze, and in 2026, we are going through DV and getting ready to submit our IDE,” Fried said. The company has raised approximately $6.5 million to date, including its Seed round in 2024, and is preparing for a Series A to support clinical studies and regulatory submission.

Over the past year, Flow Medical has completed a series of key engineering refinements to strengthen device performance and usability. The team has also expanded its manufacturing and clinical partnerships and is now preparing for major preclinical activities.

“We are excited about the traction we are seeing from clinicians, strategics, and investors who share our vision for improving outcomes in pulmonary embolism care,” Fried said.