Our 10 Remarkable Finalists
From a field of over 100 eligible entries and a strong pool of 20 semi-finalists, the judges have chosen the final 10. These finalists address current health problems, improve patient outcomes and have strong business plans and management teams behind them.
B2P Micro-Bioinformatics Technology
(Entered by B2P Ltd)
Globally, the bacterial contamination of food and water costs governments, industries and consumers an estimated one hundred billion dollars. Outbreaks of food contamination and diseases caused by microbiological agents originating from food and water are commonplace.
Testing for E.Coli and related bacteria currently requires a significantly equipped laboratory, skilled staff and between 22 to 72 hours for results to be received. The B2P Micro-Bioinformatics Technology includes a portable testing device that enables anyone to detect, count and report on the offending bacteria should it be present in or on anything, including food, from virtually any location. This device is linked via the internet to a datacentre, allowing the fast and simple transfer of data, and collation of test results. In addition to providing a portable testing device, the B2P Micro-Bioinformatics Technology also reduces the time to deliver results to between one and two hours for highly contaminated material to 12-14 hours for a confirmed negative test.
The B2P Micro-Bioinformatics Technology is currently available in Australasia and has been used by some of New Zealand largest food and water suppliers - Fonterra, Metro Water, NZ Shellfish Industry and several Australasian water authorities.
Bronchoscopy Simulator
(Entered by Airway Ltd)
Airway Limited has developed a high-fidelity, virtual reality bronchoscopy simulator to teach doctors safe airway management in difficult patients.
A flexible bronchoscope is used for the safe placement of breathing tubes, and doctors are expected to perform well with this instrument, often under difficult circumstances. Using a flexible bronchoscope is a skill that is slow to acquire in a clinical situation and training in a hospital is limited because real bronchoscopes are expensive, fragile and often in short supply.
Airway Limited’s Flexible Bronchoscopy Simulator is extremely realistic, affordable and portable, and small enough to be carried as cabin baggage and compatible with existing laptops. It is designed to teach technical skills, anatomical knowledge and disease recognition and can measure and score performance. The only competing product costs US$90,000 and weighs 100kg.
The simulator includes a lifelike model bronchoscope that interacts with a bench top sensor which translates the movement of the scope to a 3D virtual airway displayed on a computer screen. The user progresses through scenarios of increasing difficulty which are measured and scored by the simulator.
This technology can be adapted to other types of surgical and medical simulators in this new and exciting field.
CapPlan by Emendo
(Entered by Emendo Ltd)
Every day the media highlights worldwide nursing shortages, overcrowded emergency departments, growing waiting list times etc. Emendo’s CapPlan software solutions assist hospitals to plan, monitor and manage the complex mix of unscheduled emergency patients and scheduled elective patients. Already successfully sold into Australasian and UK markets, CapPlan software modules cover inpatient, theatre flow, emergency department, outpatient and hospital core services management, and have demonstrated an improved reliability and quality of patient care with a rapid return on investment.
CapPlan also helps to minimise staff costs and administration time while more effectively managing a patient’s length of stay by allowing hospitals to accurately plan resources in advance – including future scenario modelling. Research shows the solution to be unique in its ability to both analyse and predict across all key hospital dimensions and provide ongoing operational management against the forecast plan.
Comprehensive Health: GASP (Giving Asthma Support to Patients)
(Entered by Comprehensive Health Ltd)
Giving Asthma Support to Patients (GASP) is a web based, clinical assessment and decision support tool, for improved management of asthma. It also enables the differential diagnosis of asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease which is crucial for correct treatment of both conditions. The web-based programme sees participants get nurse consultations on dealing with asthma every few months. It produces a personalised individual take home document incorporating trigger advice, medication review and an action plan for both adults and children at the time of consultation. Research has shown that better assessment and long term management of asthma conditions will significantly improve health outcomes.
This is backed by measured outcomes from the use of GASP which includes a reduction in hospital admissions by 76 percent; a reduction in emergency visits by 58 percent, improved expiratory peak flow (56 percent) and a reduction in oral steroid usage (46 percent) in the GASP managed population.
GASP has been developed based on New Zealand, British and United States guidelines, and is designed for use by family physicians, respiratory nurses and trained respiratory therapists.
Endoform Infection Control
(Entered by Mesynthes Ltd)
Endoform Infection Control, developed by Mesythes, is a proprietary, ready-to-use tissue substitute for wound care and soft tissue reconstruction. It is a novel approach to the challenge of incorporating antimicrobial activity into ECM-based soft tissue reconstruction.
Endoform Infection Control is designed to be used where there is a high risk of post-operative infection at a surgical site, for structural repair during reconstructive plastic surgery and for the prevention and treatment of infection in chronic wounds. It provides a broad spectrum of anti-bacterial activity with a high degree of effectiveness against drug resistant strains. Actively stimulating tissue regeneration, Mesynthes’ Endoform Infection Control product is replaced over time by the patient’s own tissue removing any requirement for implant removal.
Patents for Endoform Infection Control have already been filed in the United States.
www.mesynthes.com
Engineering Assisted Surgery Limited
(Team Entry)
Engineering Assisted Surgery is an implant solution that will manufacture implants at 50 percent of the current cost and require up to 70 percent less surgery time and require less intensive care time, lower hospital bed occupancy, patient trauma and produce better outcomes. Essentially the system converts MRI/CAT scans from patients requiring orthopaedic, maxillofacial or oral implant surgery, to CAD software which then instructs an Electron Beam Melting (EBM) machine to create implants that may or may not be exposed to the air. The EBM can be used to manufacture mass produced implants or provide for the custom manufacture of implants that cannot be successfully made by any other process. Using Engineering Assisted Surgery, implants can be made available to more patients, at an earlier age and at an appreciably lower unit cost. The United States transplant market is currently estimated at some US$17billion per annum.
Go Virtual Medical Ltd - SIMTICS Healthcare™
(Entered by Go Virtual Medical Ltd)
It is conservatively estimated that there are over one million undergraduate medical students and nurses in training at one time in the United States and United Kingdom alone, not including postgraduates or other healthcare students. On top of this there are literally hundreds of millions of practicing professionals who need continual refresher training.
Go Virtual Medical has developed a world leading PC based learning environment that seamlessly integrates a virtual reality simulator with rich text, 3D interactive anatomy and high-definition video of expert practitioners. Go Virtual’s SIMTICS Healthcare™ products provide an e-learning environment with Integrated Cognitive Simulator™ that teaches the cognitive skills involved in the safe performance of complex healthcare procedures. SIMTICS can be used to deliver a range of pre-defined training that any number of learners can practice at any time or as often as required, on a standard personal computer.
SIMTICS is sold on a per procedure, per student, per month basis and has both medical-related applications as well as other industries. Go Virtual’s SIMTICS Healthcare products are already being used in New Zealand.
INR Online - The Future of Warfarin Management
(Entered by INR Online Ltd)
Up to one percent of the population take Warfarin, an oral anticoagulant used to treat deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolus, to prevent clots after heart valve surgery, and to reduce the risk of stroke in patients with an irregular heart rate due to atrial fibrillation.
Warfarin treatment requires constant monitoring to maintain an effective dosage involving monthly blood tests and doctor visits. INR Online allows patients to manage their own Warfarin treatment from their own home, while still remaining under close medical supervision. Patients take a simple finger-prick blood test using a handheld monitor and enter their results online. This is then analysed and if the results fall within the prescribed safety parameters the recommended dose of Warfarin is made; results outside the parameters are referred to their doctor.
As an online service, patient care is uninterrupted if they are travelling, and minimises trips to the doctors or waiting times for test results. Tests already completed in Auckland and Gisborne have shown highly positive results in improving the patients’ maintenance of their therapeutic range. INR Online also provides a comprehensive anticoagulant management system for general practitioners featuring computerised decision support, electronic scheduling and e-mail reminders.
Low Cost Multiplex Immunodiagnostic Test Platform
(Entered by Pictor Ltd)
Pictor has developed a proprietary diagnostic technology that enables the simple and cost-effective testing of blood and other biological samples for a number of disease and infectious agents. The multiplex immunodiagnostic testing technology can simultaneously measure multiple disease indicators in multiple patient samples, providing speed and throughput.
Two panels have been developed:
- The PictArray Autoimmune Panel has tests that can distinguish patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis from those with arthritic symptoms due to other causes.
- The PictArray Liver Panel screens for two of the most prevalent viral infections- Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.
The key strengths of Pictor’s technology are:
- 100-fold lower capital cost to set up
- Can be used without special technical training
- Two minutes from test to results
- Scalable from small clinics to mass screening centres
- One screening technology platform for multiple disease detection
Pictor’s diagnostic tests are accessible to a wide market due to low entry costs and easy implementation with minimum technical training. The technology has a wide variety of applications in human and veterinary immunodiagnostics, and allows the user to conduct diagnostic testing for either a chosen panel of diseases or for multiple markers of a single disease.
Quantitative Breast Screening
(Entered by Matakina Technology Ltd)
The need for breast cancer screening is well documented. However, only 20 percent of cases are diagnosed as the result of screening. In tackling this issue Matakina has developed a software product to effect a step change in breast image analysis by providing objective, quantitative and accurate dimensional information from x-ray images. Matakina’s Volpara™ software provides breast composition measurements for the whole breast and identifies areas of higher breast density, in itself a major breast cancer risk detector. Volpara also enables patient results to be compared on equable basis overtime; no matter what machine the original mammogram was taken on. Volpara can thereby reliably measure breast composition and changes over time - an advance on currently available technologies. Breasts that return a higher fatty tissue reading are lower risk and unlikely to require as frequent screening. This enables clinicians to rationalise screening on a patient by patient basis.
www.matakina.com
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