Licencing Opportunities
Mitral Valve Device:
A minimally invasive device designed to restore normal functionality to a leaky mitral valve. The device is an implant that is positioned by minimally invasive methods into the left side of the heart. The objective is to stop blood backflow occurring when the mitral valve is in its closed position. Patients with a dysfunctional mitral valve (the heart valve between the left ventricle and left atrium) are usually treated by surgical repair or replacement of the valve. However, up to 400,000 patients (estimated US and EU) are left un-treated as they are deemed as not suitable candidates for surgery. If the current surgical procedure can be reduced to a successful minimally invasive procedure it potentially would deal with this inoperable patient cohort.
FibScan - Atrial Fibrillation Screening Technology:
FibScan is a non-invasive method for screening for Atrial Fibrillation (AFib). AFib is the most common cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heart beat), affecting >3.2% of over 50s and >10% of over 80s. Individuals with AFib are almost 5 times more likely to have a stroke or TIA. Crucially, research at TCD’s TILDA Centre indicates that at least 35% of AFib individuals in Ireland are undiagnosed and hence unaware of the risk. FibScan is based on a signal analysis algorithm which processes heart-rate and pulse waveforms. This technology can be applied widely in a community-based setting (at home, pharmacy, GP surgery, etc) as opposed to the current gold standard technique of Electrocardiography (ECG) which is typically deployed in the clinic.
Sanasense - Pressure Ulcer Risk Assessment and Prevention:
Pressure-induced disruption of blood flow leads to the development of pressure ulcers (bed sores) and is a major problem for bedding and seating designers, particularly in the healthcare and transport sectors. The industry struggles with a lack of non-invasive and robust techniques to pin-point where on the surface blood flow is impeded. Researchers at the Trinity Centre for BioEngineering (TCBE) have developed a method of interrogating the signal generated by ballistocardiography (BCG) to identify areas of reduced blood flow. Such detection is an integral part/module of continuous and possibly remote monitoring, and informs reactive interventions such as smart mattresses and seating.
SOLE - Single Operator Leg Elevator:
SOLE is a device which aims to enhance the bandaging process for the medical staff providing high compression bandaging to the lower leg, particularly for the treatment of leg ulcers. The foot pedal controlled device lifts and holds the patient’s leg in place, leaving both hands of the carer free to perform the bandaging of the lower leg, and therefore avoid the need for an assistant carer to hold the leg in place. The single operator aspect is a crucial element in particular relating to obese and immobile patients in both the clinical and homecare setting. Data indicates that 70,000 to 190,000 patients are undergoing leg ulcer treatments at any one time in the UK alone, indicating that 30,000 to 80,000 bandaging procedures for leg ulcers are carried out daily in that one market.
GI ProDrugs - Inlammatory Bowel Disease Therapy:
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a group of conditions of the colon and small intestine, of which Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohn’s Disease (CD) are major types. GI ProDrugs are a group of proprietary treatments for IBD based on targeting technology developed at the TCD School of Pharmacy. Chemical drug targeting involves the deliberate modification of a drug structure causing it to accumulate at the target tissue, enhancing the efficacy of the drug treatment whilst reducing systemic impact of side effects. IBD is a chronic disorder with significant morbidity in the form of diarrhea, weight loss and potentially serious and lifethreatening complications. IBD is a common disorder – annual incidence of 1.2% and 0.63% for UC and CD, respectively, in the US and EU. In 2010 worldwide sales of the mesalazine class of drugs for UC amounted to $1.6B.
GlycoCoat - Medical Device Surface Functionalisation:
Carbon coatings are used in a wide range of biomedical devices and implants. Carbohydrates are biomolecules that play key roles in various biological processes such as host immune response and cellular adhesion. This technology represents a new, low cost, general, mild grafting methodology for attaching complex carbohydrates to carbon coatings. This technology is designed to enable medical device product developers to integrate carbon coatings that display biological activity via carbohydrate-based interactions into biodevices and implants, e.g., for decreasing restenosis occurrence. Hence, this research has significant potential to enhance both lifetime and performance of medical devices/implants.