Medical device development company Medovate has concluded agreements with three companies to act as the exclusive distributors for its Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved SAFIRA (SAFer Injection for Regional Anaesthesia) innovation across the US.
The announcement puts Medovate’s US launch of SAFIRA firmly on track for summer 2020, meaning the medical device company will have successfully brought its first medtech innovation to market just over two years since it was established.
Medovate’s US launch plan for SAFIRA capitalises on the rapidly growing international healthcare market and will be accelerated by its three new partners, which between them cover 20 US states, or 40 percent of the US: Illinois-based MED Alliance, Ohio-based OE Meyer Co and Seattle-based CoMedical.
All three companies are specialists in airway and anaesthesia and are members of the Independent Medical Specialty Dealers Association (IMDA), which provides the connections and expertise needed to introduce innovative medical technologies to the US market.
Developed in collaboration with anaesthetists in the UK National Health Service (NHS), SAFIRA is set to radically advance standard clinical practice. Regional anaesthesia procedures are widely used to make a specific part of the body numb to relieve pain or allow surgical procedures to be carried out. The SAFIRA device incorporates a unique safety feature that helps reduce the risk of nerve damage by preventing anaesthetic being injected at pressures which are too high. In addition, SAFIRA allows for significant time and cost savings.
Amid the current Covid-19 pandemic, recent publications have recommended regional anaesthesia should be considered whenever surgery is planned for a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patient. This is because regional anaesthesia preserves respiratory function and avoids aerosolisation and hence potential viral transmission of Covid-19 compared to general anaesthesia. With current pressures on healthcare increasing rapidly around the world, SAFIRA could help considerably because the innovative system enables regional anaesthesia to be carried out as a one-person procedure, thus further reducing viral infection risk than the current two-person practice.
With an estimated 10 million regional anaesthesia blocks carried out each year in the US, SAFIRA has the potential to generate significant patient safety improvements and total cost optimisation benefits.
Chris Rogers, Sales and Marketing Director at Medovate, commented: “I am delighted to have reached agreement with our three initial distributor partners in the US. All have experience in the anaesthesia space, and we believe are the ideal choice to help us take advantage of the huge opportunities that exist for SAFIRA in the US. Securing a network of experienced distributors is essential in delivering the significant benefits that SAFIRA is capable of.”
