Medical devices sector to benefit from joint approach

Partnership between Cleveland Clinic and Irish companies could lead to major jobs boost

THE CLEVELAND Clinic is one of the great American medical institutions and a beacon of progress, according to US President Barack Obama, who visited it last year and described it as a model of top class care at an affordable price.

The clinic has also one of the biggest innovation centres in the world for medical devices, a sector which is of increasing importance to Ireland and which has been a rare success story in recent years.

Its head of innovation, Dr Brian Griffin, is an Irish-born cardiologist who will speak at the National Healthcare Conference on Thursday at the Burlington Hotel. He will outline 10 of the most important medical device innovations this year.

His presentation on innovation is topical given that the Government’s Innovation Taskforce argues strongly for investment in research and development that can be led to the development of products which will create employment in Ireland.

In that regard Dr Griffin will have a good news story for delegates. The Cleveland Clinic has begun a partnership approach with the burgeoning Irish indigenous medical devices sector.

A delegation from the clinic, including Dr Griffin, was given a tour by Enterprise Ireland last year of some of the country’s indigenous medical device manufacturers.

“Ireland has been very successful in recruiting the biggest and best of the medical devices companies and are beginning to leverage that into spin-off companies,” he said.

“I was amazed at the sophistication of some of the companies involved in Galway and Dublin. I was unaware of how sophisticated some of these smaller companies which had started off as large companies have become.”

He singled out Creganna, a medical devices manufacturer in Galway city, as a prime example of an innovative Irish company.

Cleveland’s chief executive, Dr Toby Cosgrove, came to Ireland last year to meet Taoiseach Brian Cowen and to brief him on their Irish plans.

Cleveland is now anxious to team up with Irish companies. The clinic has been given a grant to carry out medical innovations by the state of Ohio from funds raised out of a class action suit against tobacco companies operating in the US.

The clinic is using the money to grant-aid start-up companies to pursue their innovation on campus. “We are interested in having Irish companies who want to do their international development here,” he said, adding that one such company has already taken up the offer. The clinic is also hoping that some American companies can carry out their non-US development work in Ireland.

Cleveland has also been negotiating with an Irish company to set up a 24-hour call centre which would be accessible for US patients.

“I left Ireland in the 1980s and the country is immeasurably better off

than it was then,” remarked Dr Griffin. “Ireland is a very driven society. I

don’t see it going back to being a backwater. I see good times ahead for Ireland.”

The clinic has also linked up with the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (RCSI) and its Centre of Innovation in Surgical Technology (CIST), which is aiming to commercialise and patent medical devices.

Cleveland and the RCSI are looking to move forward together on six different projects. They are collaborating on new areas of surgery and medical devices, and CIST will carry out clinical trials and design evaluations of their devices. Possible start-ups could emerge out of this on both sides of the Atlantic.

CIST head of innovation Derek Young, who will also speak at the conference, said the aim was to have a central hub for ideas whereby technicians can link up with medical staff to bring innovative proposals to fruition.

CIST has 46 different medical devices for which it is currently building prototypes or going through the latter stages of development. Two in particular, a new ureteral catheter and a bone displacement device, are in the late stages of development.

“We have all the expert advice we need in this country. We don’t need to look elsewhere,” he said.

“We have been traditionally very manufacturing orientated in the medical device sector. The switch that has emerged is that research and development can be done here. The potential is there to harness our own ideas on our own doorstep,” he added.

TURNING IDEAS INTO REALITY: EXAMPLES OF MEDICAL DEVICE INNOVATIONS IN RECENT YEARS

Continuous-flow ventricular assist devices:Tiny devices weighing 85g surgically attached alongside the heart that quietly and effectively take over the pumping duties of the organ.

Forced exercise to improve motor function in patients with Parkinson's disease:Pedalling at 90rph on a tandem bike to dramatically improve the motor functioning of patients with Parkinson's disease.

Fertility preservation through oocyte cryopreservation:A rapidly improving technology that allows the eggs of a healthy woman to be safely frozen and stored, ready to be thawed and fertilised at a later date.

Outpatient diagnosis of sleep-related breathing disorders:Self-contained reliable at-home sleep-monitoring devices for the screening, diagnosing and treatment of sleep-related breathing disorders.