Medovate – a pioneering medical device development company – have announced that its game-changing medical device SAFIRA® (SAFer Injection for Regional Anaesthesia) has won an award at Global Health & Pharma’s (GHP) Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Awards 2020.
SAFIRA® was named the winner of the “Best Regional Anaesthesia Safety Solution 2020”. The award celebrates innovations within the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries and honours pioneering companies who successfully develop crucial new ideas and products that contribute towards furthering the advancement of patient care.
SAFIRA® was chosen for the unique safety benefits it brings to regional anaesthesia. The Class IIb medical device – which transforms regional anaesthesia into a one-person procedure – provides a revolutionary solution that limits injection pressure, helping to improve patient safety by reducing the risk of nerve damage in patients resulting from injection at high pressures.
Medovate’s latest award reflects the company’s mission to bring to life essential new technologies that can realise improved outcomes for patients across the world.
“Since we were established three years ago, our focus has been to develop and commercialise innovative medical technologies to benefit the areas of anaesthesia, airway management, critical care and surgery, which currently present a number of unmet needs and challenges pertaining to patient safety,” Managing Director Stuart Thomson said.
“We are incredibly proud that our technology has been recognised at this year’s Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Awards for the benefits it can bring to regional anaesthesia as a unique device which helps to reduce the risk of patient nerve injury.”
During regional anaesthesia, injections are directed at a specific region of the body to allow a surgical operation. Current practice requires two operators, an anaesthetist to hold an ultrasound probe in one hand and a nerve block needle in the other. An assistant operates a syringe to inject the anaesthetic solution at a required pressure.
This is highly subjective, and ‘syringe feel’ varies between individuals. By giving the anaesthetist full control of the injection, SAFIRA® enables consistent, reliable flow and pressure of anaesthetic during a regional block procedure.
Medovate worked closely with consultant anaesthetists Dr Peter Young, Dr Emad Fawzy, Dr Joseph Carter and Dr John Gibson from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust during the development of SAFIRA®.
Dr John Gibson, one of the co-inventors behind the technology, explains: “Nerve injury is a complication that can arise from regional anaesthesia and is a potentially life changing injury. SAFIRA® was developed to put control of the injection in the hands of the anaesthetist, and to reduce as far as is possible these variables. The device allows the anaesthetist to position the needle as usual and then control the aspiration and injection of local anaesthetic and will not allow the injection to proceed if the pressure within the syringe goes above a certain threshold level.”
Based in Cambridge, Medovate is a dynamic medical device company dedicated to developing and commercialising innovative medical technologies created within the NHS and beyond. The company works to identify high potential innovations, providing vital expertise and funding to support these from design, manufacture, clinical trials, regulatory approval through to market launch.
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To download the press release, click here.
For further information please contact:
Julia Price, Public Relations, Medovate Ltd
Julia.Price@medovate.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)7737 864 878
@juliapricepr / @Medovate
About Medovate www.medovate.co.uk
Medovate is a medical device company dedicated to the development and commercialisation of innovative medical technologies created within the NHS and beyond. Medovate identifies and works with high potential medtech innovations, providing the specialist management and technical resources, along with finance required to lead innovation development through clinical trials and regulatory approval. By providing funding and support at a crucial point in the development of innovative medical technologies, Medovate accelerates innovations to market in order to benefit patient care and healthcare delivery. The company has a strong portfolio relating to specialisms in anaesthesia, airway management, critical care and surgery. Medovate directly benefits the NHS by:
- Providing access to funding, support and expertise to enable innovations created within the NHS to reach the market
- Delivering commercial returns to the NHS organisations and inventors that created the technologies
About The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust
With over 4,000 staff, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital is one of the biggest employers in West Norfolk, supporting the health and wellbeing of our local community.
QEH has circa 500 beds and 28 wards serving a population of around 331,000 people who live in the three counties of Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire.
The Hospital’s plays a leading role in research and innovation, being one of the most-research active NHS Trusts in the country compared to similar-sized hospitals.
www.qehkl.nhs.uk
Image shows (left to right): Stuart Thomson, MD of Medovate; Dr Peter Young, Critical Care Consultant & co-inventor SAFIRA®; Dr Antonia Hardcastle, Head of Education, Learning and Research; Dr John Gibson, Critical Care Consultant & co-inventor SAFIRA®; Mr Cristian Ilie, Director R&D
QEH Media Hub 