ABOUT SAFE-INFUSION

A consortium of European partners have been awarded €3 million grant funding by the European Innovation Council through its Fast Track to Innovation framework. The two-year project, Swirl SAFE-infusion, will see Swedish company, Interlinked, working with an Irish company, Gasgon Medical, to develop their respective medical devices ReLink and AirVault.

This collaborative study will then trial the technologies in two European hospitals, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, Portugal and Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Spain, ahead of a planned European launch. The expected results of the project will determine if its technology can be used to improve delivery of IV drugs in hospital and homecare settings. Interlinked and Gasgon Medical are developing devices to reduce the issues of IV dislodgement and Air-in-Line respectively, to improve the overall safety and performance of IV infusion.

Intravenous (IV) infusion is the most common invasive procedure in modern healthcare, with over 80% of patients in hospitals receiving an IV as part of their treatment. IV infusion delivers medication directly into the vein using tubing that is connected to a bag of fluids. Complications of IV are frequent, with disruptions of the prescribed dose leading to reduced quality care for patients, especially where time-critical drugs are required. Risks of IV can include air entering the vein, the drug flow being disrupted or exposure of the fluids, while disruptions can lead to the therapy being delivered at sub-optimal rates. Disruptions to IV and resulting adverse events contribute significant additional burden for healthcare systems.

By sharing resources and manufacturing solutions to common unmet needs, the commercial partners intend to deliver significant value to their hospital partners and to healthcare providers globally. This project will see each technology reach CE mark for approval to sell the devices in Europe by 2023.