Internationale Partnersuche

Innovation & Technologie Angebot

Intelligent Spacer for childhood asthma management.

Country of Origin: Singapore
Reference Number: TOSG20171113001
Publication Date: 13 November 2017

Summary

A Singapore research institute has developed a convenient and easy to use spacer, which when used with an inhaler, simplifies the medication delivery protocol. This Intelligent Spacer ensures optimal inhalation, making sure that medications are delivered to the lungs. It comes with a visual indicator, along with a medication reminder and interactive features. The institute seeks to partner SMEs or research/healthcare institutions through licensing or research cooperation agreements.

Description

Bronchial asthma (BA) is one of the most common chronic diseases among children. Globally, BA is estimated to affect 14% of all children. Asthma exacerbations accounts for more hospitalizations in children than any other chronic illness. Nearly 50% of all emergency visits and 35% of all hospitalizations are due to acute BA; these statistics underline the severity of the illness. 



For BA treatment, the medication is most commonly delivered through a pressurized metered-dose inhaler (pMDI). However, the use of pMDI has many challenges. Usually a spacer is used to spray the medication directly, delivering the right amount of medicines to the lungs. 



However, currently available spacers have poor administration technique, leading to sub-optimal drug delivery. This causes frequent episodes of shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, coughing, wheezing, and high emergency room visits. The common solution to this is prescribing higher dosages or stronger medications.



To address this issue, the Singapore research institute has developed an Intelligent Spacer which ensures efficient drug delivery to the lungs, reducing the occurrence of asthma symptoms. Usually due to the improper use of the inhaler and spacer, medication is deposited at the back of the throat, not reaching the lungs. This new tool comes with a visual indicator, which provides real time visual feedback on optimal inhalation rate, ensuring medication is deposited into the lungs, and not to the back of the throat. 



The spacer sends out daily reminder and alerts to ensure timely administration of medication and patient compliance. The spacer is also capable of summarizing compliance parameters and use of correct technique, and these data are interacted with clinicians to optimize treatment dosage and track progress. The intelligent spacer comes with a children friendly application, which engages and motivates the children towards effective drug delivery and asthma management.



The institute is keen to establish partnerships with industry players (SMEs of all sizes or research/healthcare institutions e.g. healthcare institution or healthcare technologies provider). The type of partnership sought can either be a licensing or research cooperation agreement.

Advantages and Innovations

The intelligent spacer ensures effective medication delivery and high patient compliance. Its interactive and patient engagement features ensures correct delivery technique is used along with dosage compliance. It makes asthma management easier for the asthmatic children and their families. 



This convenient and easy to use tool ensures asthma control. With improved asthma control, emergency room visits, interrupted sleep and school absentee are greatly reduced. It improves the quality of life of BA children and reduces the likelihood of asthma in adulthood.

Stage Of Development

Project already started

Requested partner

The Singapore institution seeks to work with SMEs of all sizes or research/healthcare institutions in a licensing or research cooperation agreement partnership.



The partner sought could be a healthcare institution or healthcare technologies provider.



Under a licensing agreement:

- The partner can license the technology to offer as a product or service to their customers.



Under a research cooperation agreement:

- The partner can undertake joint development with the Singapore organization to offer to introduce new products to targeted markets/segments.