GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Above Matt Mayer’s desk in his office at the Business Incubator Center hangs a sign displaying the number 548.

That’s the number of people who die from pulmonary embolism every day — a condition in which an artery in the lung becomes blocked by one or more blood clots.

“I look at that sign every day,” Mayer said. “If we meet our projections, we think we can save 42,000 lives a year. That’s a good feeling.”

Mayer and his father, David Mayer, a semi-retired orthopedic surgeon, formed Mayer Medical Technologies in November 2006, seeking to develop new health care products.

One of their products is a device called the Frogg Dynamic Compression System — a collaboration between the Mayers and two other local men, Leck Mitchell and Gerhart Rill — designed to prevent deep vein thrombosis, a condition that leads to pulmonary embolism.

Pulmonary embolism is the leading cause of hospital deaths each year, according to Mayoclinic.com.

Hospitals currently try to prevent blood clots by prescribing drugs and using a pneumatic compression device, a cumbersome, 20-year-old technology that involves cords that run from a box to the feet, Mayer said. The device discourages people from getting up and moving around, which is necessary for preventing blood clotting, Mayer said.

Patients don’t like it, and they can easily trip over cords if they try to ambulate, he said.

Mayer said the Frogg, which the inventors worked on for two-and-a-half years, is a better system.

“What we’ve done is eliminated the cords,” Mayer said. “The device goes around the foot. There’s no more tripping or nurse having to come and take it off.”

A soft, shoe-like monitoring device is wrapped around the foot. A pad is firmly pressed into the arch of the foot every 30 seconds, compressing a group of veins.

An impulse device monitors patient compliance by logging when and how long a patient uses the device — something for which the current system doesn’t allow, Mayer said.

The company hopes to start the first set of clinical trials at St. Mary’s Hospital next month and obtain FDA approval for the Frogg by mid-year.

“We hope to prove that ours is better than what’s on the market,” Mayer said.

The company has invested $1.2 million into the product, hoping to sell it off eventually.

“Hopefully you’ll see it in hospitals around the country,” Mayer said. “That’s our goal.”

Mayer Medical helps people take their ideas from a concept to a reality by providing early seed start-up capital, help with intellectual proprietary protection, copyrights, patents, creating a mock-up and testing a product.

“The medical community is amazing — the doctors, nurses, physical therapists, physician assistants — so many bright, smart people who come up with ideas every day,” Mayer said. “The problem is they may not have the time, business acumen or finances to get their idea to reality.”

Once the product is a proven concept, the devices are shown to large distributors. Mayer Medical is not in the business of manufacturing or sales.

“We want (to help) people in the medical community who have great ideas and want to see their ideas come to fruition,” Mayer said.

Mayer Medical was a start-up itself when it moved into the Business Incubator Center, 2591 B 3/4 Road, in 2006. The Incubator is a nonprofit entrepreneur center that offers low-cost business classes and free consulting to new and expanding businesses.

“The Incubator was very helpful. They helped us keep our costs as low as possible as a start-up,” Mayer said.

“They’re great for bouncing ideas off of,” he added. “I can’t say enough about them. They’re quite progressive.

“They give us some of the advantages of a large company that we wouldn’t get on our own.”

Mayer Medical Technologies can be reached at 245-0124.

The Incubator can be reached at 243-5242.

Reach Sharon Sullivan at ssullivan@gjfreepress.com.