Cambridge-based medical device company Medovate – the ‘Best Medical Device Innovation Development Company – 2022’ for the UK, is a business with a unique – and now proven – business model, working closely with clinicians to support the development of NHS-developed innovation. Spun out of the NHS in 2017, Medovate has made a name for itself for its ability to identify and develop high potential innovations into award-winning products which are available for the benefit of patients and clinicians across the globe.
The company is a dedicated medical device development vehicle for the NHS and prides itself on working closely with clinicians to develop valuable medical technology innovations with the potential to improve patient safety. Using its exceptional expertise to help guide them through the entire, and often complex, development pathway – from design, manufacturing, regulation and quality, feasibility testing, and clinical trials, through to product launch, marketing and distribution.
In the space of just four years ago, the company has established a proven platform to bring medical products to market and has pressed ahead with licensing and building a portfolio of medical devices to improve patient safety relating to the specialist areas of anaesthesia, airway management, critical care and surgery.
Today a celebrated, multi-award-winning company, Medovate has achieved a great deal in its first few years and is now confidently looking forward, building on all it has achieved so far, expanding its product portfolio and planning new product launches.
Through its unique medical device development pipeline, the company aims to improve patient care and safety by supplying innovative MedTech solutions to global healthcare systems, which are facing some of the most pressing challenges of the modern era.
The pandemic has indeed created an environment of enhanced safety measures. At the heart of Medovate’s expanding portfolio is its revolutionary technology SAFIRA® (SAFer Injection for Regional Anaesthesia) – its first product to be brought to market. The device – already launched in key markets across the world, from the United States to the UK and Europe, Australia and New Zealand – has been designed to make injection during regional anaesthesia safer.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the European and the American Societies of Regional Anaesthesia both produced joint COVID-19 recommendations stating that regional anaesthesia should be preferred over general anaesthesia as the need to minimise aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs) took precedence.
The device, which has been designed in collaboration with NHS clinicians, includes a built-in safety mechanism to automatically limit injection pressure, helping to reduce the risk of nerve damage and promote patient safety. As the practice of regional anaesthesia grows globally, the use of SAFIRA® for regional anaesthesia procedures has the potential to make a significant impact on improving patient safety.
The system has since been developed to include the option of using an NRFit® connector, together with either a foot or palm operator, offering greater choice and versatility to clinicians. Medovate has successfully secured CE mark approval and FDA clearance for the SAFIRA® system.
As impressively, the game-changing technology has also been found to have potential to make a difference in veterinary care and this is being explored with partners in global veterinary markets to see how the technology could make regional anaesthesia safer for animals. A male lion at the Five Sisters Zoo (FSZ) in Scotland became the first-ever animal in the world to have dental surgery using SAFIRA® last June.
The technology is fast attracting considerable attention in regional anaesthesia circles and developing a reputation as a device of choice for supporting safer regional anaesthesia practice. SAFIRA® was awarded the prestigious ‘Patient Safety Innovation of the Year’ at the HSJ Awards in September 2021 – a recognition of its capabilities as an outstanding example of healthcare innovation which has clearly improved safety for both patients and staff, and a further stamp of approval for Medovate’s unique business model.
Having successfully launched its first FDA-cleared and CE Mark certificated medical device in multiple international markets, Medovate now has agreements in place to make the technology available in 60+ countries over the next few years. The company also has a number of exciting additional innovations in the pipeline, including their novel HME safety device HUMIDICARE®, a novel heat and moisture exchanger (HME) which has a safety engineered warning system to promptly visually alert staff to a dual humidification error in a ventilation circuit, helping prevent potential harm to patients.
In the field of critical care, the company has developed Glucosave®, a patient safety solution designed to help prevent incidences of unnecessary administration of insulin following blood sampling where a glucose containing flush solution has been inadvertently connected, something which can have serious consequences for patients.
With the wind firmly in their sails, Medovate is also actively pursuing further regulatory approvals and distribution agreements for other key markets across Asia-Pacific, Canada and South Africa. With further regulatory approvals for the promising technologies in the Medovate portfolio imminently anticipated, and additional technologies approaching clinical trials and market launch, this is just the beginning for this fast-growing company, which has grown from an initial team of 2 to a team of 16, including a consultant based in the US – the home of its first product launch.
Medovate now continues to work with distributor partners who are global leaders in their field to bring its innovations to market, such as Vygon in markets including Europe and the UK; and Mercury Medical, through which it is working to distribute SAFIRA® across the whole of the United States.
The company also has a co-promotional partnership agreement with Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas Inc. – a world-class provider and market leader in medical diagnostic imaging – to promote best practice in ultrasound guided regional anaesthesia across the US. The partnership was formed to highlight the provision of Ultrasound Guided Regional Anaesthesia’ and how the ground-breaking SAFIRA® can be used in conjunction with Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas’ Inc. range of pioneering ultrasound solutions.
Today Medovate continues to work with partners to uncover further NHS innovations to add to its portfolio, keep the positive cycle of developing NHS innovation going and realising its potential to help support further NHS innovation; while also raising awareness of the amazing innovations generated by the NHS which can benefit clinicians and patients beyond the UK. Through its partners and co-promotional partners, the company continues to work towards its vision to promote patient safety through healthcare innovations arising from the UK’s world leading institution – which, as an additional benefit, remains a key stakeholder for the organisation. The company operates a unique model ensuring the Trusts where its new device ideas originate receive a share of the profits from successful commercialisation, thus helping it to feed into the healthcare innovation cycle in an exceptional way.
For further information, please visit medovate.co.uk
