TECHNOLOGY
‘Engaging with the correct stakeholder ensures development is carried out in response to unmet needs, progresses in line with end-user requirements and leads to the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes.’
stakeholders will not be contacted directly by companies, as it wants to ensure that the process is closely controlled and to guard against experts being bombarded by requests for help.
Award-winning idea The creation of Clinical Insight received a boost early in 2012 by winning £52,000 in the 2012 Fast Forward Awards towards progressing its development and accelerating interactions between the NHS and industry. The Fast Forward Competition was launched to find examples of knowledge-sharing with industry to boost UK economic growth. Commenting on the win, Robert Donald, HEE Intellectual Property manager said: “It was a great accolade to win this award which recognised the value of Clinical Insight. The expertise and insight of healthcare professionals working in the front line is vital to ensuring that medical technology innovations take account of actual NHS requirements rather than relying on anecdotal evidence.”
Clinical Insight was officially launched early in October 2012 at an event held at Addenbrooke’s Hospital attended by both medical technology companies and clinicians. At the event, HEE chief executive, Dr Anne Blackwood, explained how Clinical Insight works. She said: “With support from the Health
Innovation Education Cluster (HIEC) and the UK Intellectual Property Office, Clinical Insight has been developed to recognise and gain access to clinical expertise in order to help shape the future of medical technology. “The Clinical Insight network will facilitate and put clinical experts in dialogue with industry, giving them an opportunity to engage and provide input into new projects and developments ensuring that end products are fit for purpose and needs are met.”
Collaboration is key At the event, Malcolm Cameron, consultant surgeon, Head & Neck Service in the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery at Addenbrooke’s spoke about the value of collaborating with industry to address unmet clinical needs in wound care. Together with his colleague Mr Luke Cascari, Mr Cameron had an idea for a tracheostomy wound dressing with a innovative design to improve healing time for patients undergoing a tracheostomy. The design included an integrated button plate, enabling easy, accurate and consistent location of the tracheostomy wound. This facilitated quicker wound healing reducing it to just five from the current seven to 15 days. Additional benefits include quicker restoration of speech and no damage to the skin when
the dressing is removed. However, until the consultants
approached HEE they were unable to progress this idea. HEE helped with patents, design rights, prototyping and proof of concept, as well as finding a suitable licensee and negotiating the deal terms. As a result, the tracheostomy wound dressing achieved regulatory approval and has now been launched onto the market.
Rapid access
The importance of collaboration and access to clinical experts was also highlighted by Kevin Auton from Aseptika Ltd. The Huntingdon-based company won Phase 1 and Phase 2 funding in the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition to progress their idea for a home-based rapid and quantative test for bacterial respiratory infections in patients with cystic fibrosis. The test enables earlier intervention for sufferers, leading to a reduction in hospital admissions and total length of stay, ultimately improving healthcare outcomes. HEE enabled access to clinical input to provide Aseptika with the insights critical to the development of the technology. Sue Watson concludes: “The overriding message is that you cannot develop healthcare products in isolation but for medtech companies it can be difficult to get rapid access to the right clinicians. This is where HEE can help. Through our established database of contacts, we have built up trust and can marry both sides to their mutual benefit. We also speak both languages – clinical and technical – and can translate potential ideas into products that will deliver.
• For further information please visit the website
www.clinical-insight.com
Left to right: Sue Watson, senior consultant Medtech Services, Colette Johnson, project manager and Nick Offer, project administrator.
NOVEMBER 2012
At the 2012 Fast Forward Awards, left to right: Stuart Thomson, head of innovation, Robert Donald, Intellectual Property manager, both HEE, with Baroness Wilcox, Minister for Intellectual Property.
THE CLINICAL SERVICES JOURNAL 23
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