Cambridge Design Partnership » Healthcare

World-first Innovation in Cryosurgery

CDP — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:43:45 +0000

With 500,000 cases of breast tumours every year, Sanarus Medical’s minimally invasive Visica™ Treatment had a great future. But how could they turn that opportunity into a multi million dollar business when success relies upon a low-cost outpatient procedure with a simple, effective device? They called upon CDP’s inventive engineering-physics, and walked away with a market-leading technology just 8 months later.

Sanarus and CDP collaborated to invent the world’s first low-pressure liquid nitrogen cryosurgery system. The result was that low-cost materials and joining methods could be used on the disposable part, and the size of the nitrogen store could be massively reduced. Visica™ is now used to kill breast-tumours without the need for open surgery.
Skills Deployed
• Thermodynamics physics
• Methodical laboratory experimentation
• Construction of electromechanical demo systems

Technical Highlights and ‘World Firsts’
• World’s first low-pressure nitrogen cryoablation system
• Reduction of the mass of the system by a factor of 10
• Procedure time reduced by 50%

Sanarus has much more than a revolutionary new product on the market; their business value is secured by a powerful patent portfolio enhanced by CDP’s work.

www.sanarus.com

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PortaPack™ Ventilator Battery Back-up

Matt Corrall — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:00:25 +0000

ResMed had a problem: they knew they could sell more of their core product, but they needed an accessory to do so.

The company is at the forefront of treating sleep-disordered breathing that affects up to 20% of the adult population. The business case was clear for a back-up battery for this fast-growing market, but how could they divert resource from launching new core products?

CDP filled the gap, using our regulatory knowledge and product realisation skills to go from ‘Opportunity to Operation.’ We designed and prototyped the battery backup system from scratch, sourcing components from around the world and arranging manufacture.

Skills Deployed
• Complete product design
• Project and supplier management
• Certification to Medical Devices Directive
• Prototyping and testing

Technical Highlights
• High capacity, high current Li-ion batteries and charger
• Hot-pluggable, multiple batteries
• Fast production mould tools from within Europe at internationally competitive prices

ResMed now has a vital accesory in their portfolio, achieving it without disturbing their existing development.

www.resmed.com

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Pelikan Sun™ Electronic Lancing Device

Matt Corrall — Sat, 07 May 2005 09:00:25 +0000

For the $5bn global business in diabetes diagnostics kits, today’s test strips, lancets and meters are inconvenient, messy, and painful. With an electronic ‘lancing engine’ idea, Californian start-up, Pelikan Technologies, aimed to disrupt the market with an integrated blood glucose self-monitoring device.

After struggling to find specialist engineering skills in the US, Pelikan came to CDP in Cambridge, UK. The result was not just a world leading product, but also a valuable patent portfolio enabling further funding.

Skills Deployed
· Micro-engineering, packaging process development
· Electromagnetics and control systems
· Project and invention management

Technical Highlights and ‘World Firsts’
· 50 lancets in disposable, sterile sealed cartridge
· Foil sealing on to non-planar, moulded substrate
· Automated selection and replacing of each lancet
· Electronic linear drive lancing control system

Pelikan and CDP have created the future of blood glucose monitoring; it is accurate effective, painless, and above all, it is convenient.

www.pelikantechnologies.com

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SIAScope™ Medical Imaging System

CDP — Mon, 15 Mar 2004 11:15:41 +0000

Radio 4’s Science Now programme led CDP into a multi-million pound venture in early stage melanoma detection. The result was the SIAScope™ medical imaging system which allows doctors to reliably diagnose melanoma skin cancer without resorting to a biopsy.

The project was developed from university research to a CE approved production prototype in 12 months. The rapid development of a well-designed technology platform was key to securing investor confidence in the technology. With SIAScope™ technology proven in clinical trials and showing increased acceptance in the medical sector, the technique is now entering the cosmetics market to appear in high street stores.

Skills Deployed
· Optics
· Digital imaging and processing
· Medical device regulatory approval
· Use of industrial design to increase awareness

Technical Highlights and ‘World Firsts’
· Non invasive accurate diagnostic assistance
· Image processing to provide a patient friendly interface
· High bandwidth optical design for focus free imaging

Astron Clinica now develop and market the SIAScope technology from their R&D centre in Toft, Cambridge and marketing offices around the world.

http://siascopy.biocompatibles.com

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Diabetes Detection

Matt Corrall — Fri, 07 Mar 2003 09:00:27 +0000

Digital Healthcare called on CDP’s expertise in opto-mechanics. Just 8 months later, a range of Ophthalmic Digital Adaptors was in production and software sales rocketed.

If diabetes is detected early, sufferers can act to avoid its life-threatening complications. Pioneering UK start-up, Digital Healthcare, recognised that simple early detection via imaging of the eye’s retina could save millions of lives. They had sophisticated retinal imaging software, but sales were blocked by a lack of hardware to collect the high quality images required from ophthalmologists Fundus cameras.

CDP’s adaptor connects any digital SLR camera to a range of popular Fundus cameras. CDP achieved the “gold standard” of diffraction-limited optics, capturing the highest quality digital images, preserving resolution for processing. Digital Healthcare’s system is now screening over half a million people annually worldwide.

Skills Deployed
•Optical modelling and optimisation
•Precision mechanism engineering
•Project management from brief to pilot production

Technical Highlights
•High quality diffraction-limited lens assemblies
•Precision lens-changing mechanisms
•Electrical interface between DSLR and Fundus camera

www.digital-healthcare.co.uk

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