NZ medical device company heading to international event

Leading innovative NZ medical device company heading to crucial international medical event

November 12, 2015

A fast-rising New Zealand award winning medical devices design company will be attending a major global medical conference in Germany next week to learn more how to help ill or injured New Zealanders.

Christchurch firm inFact, a recent New Zealand innovation award winner, will learn from medical experts at the Medica event starting in Dusseldorf next Monday.

InFact chief executive Nigel Sharplin says he has been closely involved with commercialising a number of medical device innovations designed and trialled in New Zealand including the medical company Eyewitness which is developing in partnership with Callaghan Innovation, a retina scanner for the ophthalmology market.

“InFact became involved as an investment partner in the Eyewitness start up in 2009, originally to develop the MicroView patient imaging device that improves patients’ understanding of their particular eye condition and ensuing treatment prognosis.

“By attending Medica we will connect with the UK and European medical devices industry. InFact wants to identify and engage with potential clients, partners, investors, advisors and to learn more about new emerging technologies in the medical devices space primarily to bring these opportunities back to our NZ clients and companies and to integrate these with their products and services.

“Medical devices are for the most part extremely high value technology products. InFact is partnering Callaghan Innovation, Health Innovation Hub and working with a number of entrepreneurial companies to help build momentum in the medical devices industry in New Zealand assisting them with their technology and market developments and compliancing.

“New Zealand has the opportunity now to lead the world in the application of these medical devices to remote services where clinics, mobile healthcare providers and patients begin to play an active role in the diagnostics, monitoring and reporting and treatment of health conditions without the enormous cost of having the patient visit the traditional treatment facilities. There being real benefit in offsetting our growing national health bill with an aging population.”

“These types of technologies are becoming critical in the provision of healthcare services to remote communities and to people who otherwise struggle to get to a treatment facility and often times miss the vital support they need.”

Sharplin says there are plenty of examples of wonderful new patented health technologies that would benefit New Zealand and be viable in offshore markets that are languishing for lack of funding and channel partners to take them to market. New Zealand is seen by large medical companies as an interesting clinical trial environment for new innovation because it is small and deregulated compared with United States or Europe.

InFact will be supporting the launch of several new medical device products in development over the next 12 to18 months.

ENDS

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