Press Release
01 Sep 2008 - Cranfield develops drug sensor to aid intensive care clinicians
Cranfield University and Sphere Medical Holding PLC are to receive an investment of £322,000 from the Technology Strategy Board to develop a novel drug sensor which will improve the care of critically ill patients by ‘personalising’ their medication.
Each patient’s unique combination of characteristics such as weight, age and gender will affect how drugs perform therapeutically in the body. Therefore it is important that clinicians have the appropriate tools to customise a patient’s medication and achieve optimum uptake.
To meet this need, the industrial-academic team will spend the next few years developing a disposable sensor that can measure drug concentration, detect changes as they happen and provide early detection of any faults in the drug delivery system.
Dr Kal Karim, Lecturer in Organic and Computational Chemistry, Cranfield Health, said: “We hope that the device will result in new treatment regimes in intensive care medicine, improve therapy, save lives and significantly reduce the cost of care.
“We will be looking to employ a dedicated researcher on this project, who will use Cranfield’s Molecular Imprinting Polymer (MIP) technology to detect small drug molecules. This will then be combined with Sphere Medical’s sensors into a fully functional prototype.
“We already have a long-standing relationship with Sphere and are pleased to be working with them to develop this idea. The Technology Strategy Board have also given us fantastic support to pursue this goal, and I am looking forward to developing a product that has the potential to both improve the economics of critical care and benefit millions of people worldwide.”
The project has been made possible through the Technology Strategy Board’s “Technologies for Health” competition and is due to be completed in May 2011.
ENDS
Further information
Photo caption: Photograph of a prototype of Sphere’s Proxima system integrated into an arterial line. The Proxima system will form the platform onto which the new drug sensor will be integrated.
Cranfield University is a wholly postgraduate institution with a worldwide reputation for excellence and expertise in aerospace, automotive, defence, engineering, environment and water, health, management and manufacturing. The University is made up of the following Schools: Cranfield Health, School of Management, School of Applied Sciences, School of Engineering, and The Defence College of Management and Technology at Shrivenham. For more information visit www.cranfield.ac.uk
Cranfield Health, incorporating Cranfield Postgraduate Medical School, focuses on health research, education and consultancy. It combines science and technology, human factors and management to provide new solutions for the Health sector. The School draws upon Cranfield's roots in medical physics, food quality and nutrition, bioscience and related diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
The academic team at Cranfield undertaking the research project includes Dr Kal Karim, Lecturer in Organic and Computational Chemistry and Professor Sergey Piletsky, Professor of Bio-Organic Polymer Chemistry, Cranfield Health.
The Technology Strategy Board is a business-led executive non-departmental public body, established by the government. Its role is to promote and support research into, and development and exploitation of, technology and innovation for the benefit of UK business, in order to increase economic growth and improve the quality of life. It is sponsored by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). For further information please visit www.innovateuk.org.
Sphere Medical PLC is developing highly innovative monitoring products to provide clinical and economic benefits in the critical care environment, based on the company’s proprietary technology. The products allow minimally invasive, real time measurement of clinical chemistry parameters and therapeutic drug concentrations, giving healthcare professionals the information they require to more effectively manage therapy and optimise patient outcomes. Sphere Medical was founded in 2002 and is based in Cambridge, UK. For further information please see www.spheremedical.com
Press release number: PR-02-08-HEALTH
