In the complex world of anaesthesia, airway, and critical care – where people may be fighting life-threating conditions – preventing harm and cross-infection remains important for both patient and clinician. This is particularly poignant at a time where the world is battling a highly infectious respiratory disease.
Chris Rogers, Sales & Marketing Director, explains: “Medovate was established to provide the NHS with a structured pathway that is dedicated to developing and supporting clinicians’ innovations to market. We specialise in bringing together all the aspects that are required for successful product development such as finance, expertise, proven experience, a robust quality system, and partnerships and networks.”
“As a company our vision is to improve patient care on a global scale and we do this by working with clinicians to develop pioneering technologies with the potential to create real value and impact, by addressing unmet clinical needs. Our goal is to identify and support high-value innovations at every step of the development pathway.”
Founded in 2017 by NHS Innovation Hub Health Enterprise East, Medovate was created to identify and develop high potential innovations within the NHS, providing vital expertise and funding to support these through clinical trials, regulatory approval and market launch.
The company operates on a unique business model. With the NHS as a key partner, they offer direct benefits to the UK’s health system, supporting NHS innovation at the same time as delivering direct commercial benefits and re-investment to the NHS.
Today the company has established itself as a key player in the medtech industry for medical devices.
Based in Cambridge in the UK, Medovate recently brought to market their first medical device, SAFIRA® (SAFer Injection for Regional Anaesthesia), developed in collaboration with NHS clinicians – and designed to help make regional anaesthesia safer for patients across the world.
Safer injection for regional anaesthesia
In current procedures, anaesthetic solutions can be inadvertently injected at high pressure, which can cause transient or even serious nerve damage. SAFIRA® improves patient safety by preventing anaesthetic from being injected at high pressures, thus helping to reduce the risks of nerve damage.
Furthermore, the European Society for Regional Anaesthesia (ESRA) and the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA ) have recently released joint COVID-19 recommendations stating that regional anaesthesia – which avoids aerolisation – should be preferred if appropriate over general anaesthesia whenever surgery is planned for COVID-19 patients.
In enabling regional anaesthesia to be carried out as a one-person procedure, Medovate’s innovative system further helps reduce the risk of viral infection amongst healthcare staff than the current two-person practice as one less person is required for the procedure to be carried out.
With both European CE Mark approval and FDA clearance, SAFIRA® can be readily integrated into markets across Europe and the US and other CE Mark territories across the globe. The class IIb medical device has been successfully launched in the United States. A major distribution partner for Europe, Vygon, has been secured, as well as distributors for Israel, Australia and New Zealand, with additional distributor discussions are in progress.
Chris adds: “Medovate has shown we can take an NHS idea from concept through to commercialisation, and there are many other innovations that we are looking at. While we continue to focus our efforts on the anaesthesia and care critical space, we have also recently taken on our first surgical device and are looking to build complementary products in the coming years and expand our global footprint.”
For more information visit medovate.co.uk