AIRGLOVE Medical has raised £500,000 equity investment for a product, aiming to enhance patient well-being and reduce NHS costs.
The investment was supplied by Pulse Angels and Scottish Enterprise to advance the commercial launch of its patented Airglove product that helps medical professionals successfully cannulate patients the first time around.
Cannulation is an essential medical procedure whereby a thin plastic tube is inserted into a vein to administer medication, and fluids or to take blood samples.
It is necessary in 80% of hospital admissions yet has a reported 30% failure rate of accessing the vein the first time and a 33-69% failure rate after insertion.
Access to veins can be difficult, damaged, hidden, or fragile veins can result in long-term care issues, leading to patient distress and discomfort, delayed or cancelled treatments, delayed discharge, and increased healthcare costs.
As cannulas cannot be re-used after a failed attempt this also leads to waste, additional disposal costs and lost treatment time for patients and hospitals.
Often this affects vulnerable patients such as the elderly or those receiving repeated courses of chemotherapy.
Airglove works by forcing warm air through a double-walled low-density polyethylene (LDPE) glove worn on the patient’s arm to dilate the veins.
Airglove Medical founder Gio Benedetti said: “Airglove represents a breakthrough in what is a very traditional approach to cannulating patients which, whilst it works for many, can also cause distress to others.
“In addition to improving patient care, it also offers significant cost savings plus the reduction in clinical waste disposal and increase in productivity for the healthcare community.
“Airglove is now in use in more than 12 clinical areas and offers a truly global opportunity for my Lanarkshire-based company.
“I would like to acknowledge the outstanding support we have received from Scottish Enterprise, which from the outset saw its innovative and commercial potential.”
Initially developed in response to a 2018 NHS Innovations challenge, it has now been used in more than 140 hospitals across the UK, with plans underway for a commercial launch targeting markets in Europe and the US.
It has been proven in trials to achieve 87.5% first-time cannulation success, and an independent economic assessment by Health Enterprise East suggests it could save the NHS £31m over 3 years in oncology alone.
The head of the lead investor group, Mohan Cashyap, said: “Rarely do you get the opportunity to help in such a promising and solid proposal that will be a game-changer across a wide range of medical fields.”
Scottish Government business minister Richard Lochhead said: “Life sciences provide life-saving therapies and contribute more than £10bn to the Scottish economy every year, supporting more than 42,500 jobs.
“We have set out measures in our Programme for Government to grow the sector and support Scotland’s international reputation for home-grown innovation.
“These include accelerating commercial clinical trials and speeding up the adoption of innovations within the NHS to benefit patients.”
