NSW medical device companies receive funding

Announced this week by the NSW minister for Health and Medical Research, Jillian Skinner, five medical technology companies are the lucky recipients of grants from the Medical Devices Fund.

The Medical Devices Fund was launched in September 2012 and the allocation of funds was overseen by an independent panel chaired by Mary O’Kane, NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer.

Covering a range of areas, the following five companies were chosen from a reported 147 applications:

Elastagen - this company is developing a technology focusing on the medical repair and regeneration of the skin called elastatherapy.

Endoluminal Sciences - working in the cardiovascular area, this company is developing a sealant-based medical device to prevent leakage from around current minimally invasive heart valve implants.

HEARworks - spinning out of the Hearing Cooperative Research Centre and National Acoustics Labs, this company is developing further modules for their portable multifunctional instrument, HEARLab, which enables clinicians to assess hearing with automatic cortical tests.

mobiLIFE - is developing a portable intravenous pump, mobiDRIP, which can be used to treat patients in the home by delivering continuous doses of antibiotics, chemotherapy, pain medication, nutrition.

Saluda Medical - using neural recording technology, this company is developing an implantable device to treat chronic neuropathic pain that will focus initially on spinal cord stimulation.