Rob Chesters, Manager of Alvolution (pictured), explains, “Alvolution is an important initiative for MedilinkWM. At its core is the discovery, collaboration, stimulation, demonstration and promotion of high quality technological initiatives developed by manufacturers for the assisted living sector.

“Under the new name, Alvolution maintains MedilinkWM’s commitment to stimulating demand for assisted living technology, leading and driving the assisted living market, to create better products to deliver quality healthcare. By promoting the role of partnership, best practice and modern technology to support independent living, Alvolution continues to help in the delivery of cost-effective, user-friendly solutions that address the looming crises of an ageing population,” says Rob.

“Estimates indicate that in the UK, the number of people aged 65 or over will rise from 9.3 million to 16.8 million over the next fifty years. According to the Department for Health, currently there are just over 15 million people living with chronic conditions, but by 2030 this is expected to more than double in the over 65s.”

MedilinkWM develops business networks for medical and healthcare companies, resulting in commercial ventures and business growth in the West midlands region of the UK. By bridging the gap between those who innovate and those who manufacture, the organisation increases the viability of companies in the market through technology and knowledge transfer from Universities and the NHS. Sharing advance knowledge of academic and private research, clinical developments and industrial opportunities, it encourages businesses to develop new revenue streams and new products as well as helping diversification from other industries.

Leukocare has developed a technique for binding and stabilising functional molecules on the surfaces of medical devices. The company’s key technology is postcoating stabilisation, which preserves molecules for long-term stability and maintains biomolecular functionality. It allows drying, sterilisation and storage of the biofunctionalized medical device without loss of functionality.

Covalent, ionic or adhesive bonds, with or without spacers, can be engineered. Biocoatings with customer-specific elution properties are also available.

The technology has been used with diagnostic catheters, and usability studies are being prepared for wound-care products, said Scholl. Currently, Leukocare tailors the technology to specific molecules. In about a year, Scholl expects to have a standard solution available.

The company’s poration technique relies on the use of a microelectrode array that is placed against the skin. A high-frequency alternating current travels through the microelectrodes to create localized ablation of the skin cells. The process takes a fraction of a second, and because the microchannels penetrate only the outer layer of the skin, where there are no blood vessels or nerve endings, the patient suffers no pain or trauma.

The intranasal delivery device from UK-based OptiNose may look quite simple compared with Transpharma’s microelectrode arrays, but its design is quite ingenious. The breath-actuated device enables effective delivery of drugs to specific sites while preventing drug distribution to the lungs.

Conventional nasal sprays can be remarkably ineffective in delivering accurate amounts of medication to target areas, according to Per Gisle, MD and founder of OptiNose. To get around the nasal cavity’s stolid defenses, manufacturers recommend Cirque de Soleil-worthy physical contortions to properly administer the drug. “Patient compliance is very low,” deadpanned Gisle at the session. The breath-actuated device that he developed acts upon the nasal flap to allow targeted delivery of intranasal drugs to targeted regions of the nasal cavity, including the sinuses and olfactory region, without lung deposition.

The technology has potential in several major disease areas, according to Gisle, including the treatment of rhinitis and sinusitis and central nervous system disorders such as Parkinson’ and Alzheimer’s diseases.

Licensing and partnership opportunities are available.

The BD Physioject Disposable AutoInjector received very high marks from patient groups for usability and accuracy.

The state of the market for self-injection devices is healthy and growing at a steady clip, noted Joel Cotten, European Product Manager/Marketing, BD Medical – Pharmaceutical Systems during the BIOMEDevice Europe conference in Paris. Currently, 15% of all injections are performed by the patient, he told attendees, a percentage that will continue to rise.

“With the exception of cancer and vaccine treatments, most drugs in the pipeline will be delivered via self-injection systems,” said Cotten. Acknowledging the inherent difficulty in assigning a real value to a device that is often developed and sold in tandem with a drug, he estimated that the market for self-injection systems was upwards of US$1 billion in 2007 and that it would reach US$2 billion by 2012.

Insulin pens remain a very popular device with consumers. More than 50% of drug-bearing cartridges sold are used in pens. Prefilled syringes also continue to register a healthy 12% annual growth, according to Cotten. Of the other technologies, needle-free delivery systems have not achieved the uptake that some industry observers expected by now. Autoinjectors, however, show great promise, according to Cotten, but that should not be terribly surprising since BD has developed the Physioject Disposable AutoInjector. Bias aside, he made a convincing case for the device, outlining the design and development work that went into the project.

When you ask patients what they would like to see in a drug delivery device, they will give you a long laundry list of demands, he explained. “They want every feature imaginable, but you can’t build every feature into your device. You need to focus on the end-user needs that matter most.”

BD’s patient study looked at two groups. One was dubbed the expert group, composed of current users of self-injection devices, whereas the other was tagged the naives (potential users of the technology that did not have a full grasp of what was involved). By cross referencing the highest ranked features from both groups and focussing R&D efforts on those specific areas, BD was able to develop an autoinjector that has earned high marks from users.

Insulin pens will continue to perform extremely well in the marketplace, concluded Cotten, but there is also a bright future for well-designed disposable autoinjectors.

Co-located with Pharmapack, BIOMEDevice was held at the Grande halle de la Villette in Paris on 1 and 2 February. The events are organised by Canon Communications LLC.

The convergence of the medical device, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries raises some novel issues when it comes to intellectual property (IP), noted Noel Akers at a session on Monday morning. Protecting your IP may require finding a harmonious solution to the historically dissonant drug and device regimens.

It’s no simple matter to protect the innovative aspects of a product that combines a medical device with an active ingredient, according to Akers, founder of N. J. Akers & Co. and a patent and trademark attorney admitted to practice in the United Kingdom and Europe. One of the complicating factors involves methodology.

Patent laws allow for IP protection of medical devices but not necessarily the method by which they are used, Akers told attendees. In fact, “methods of treatment are specifically excluded under European patent laws.” This area of law, however, is under constant scrutiny in the courts. One example involves drug dosage regimes.

Until fairly recently, the consensus opinion in the courts was that drug dosage is a method of treatment and could not receive IP protection. “But attitudes have changed in the last couple of years, and [this concept] is being appealed at the European level,” he said. “A door has opened in the last couple of years. The law is having to adapt as technologies evolve.”

Helmut Reinecke and colleagues note that manufacturers add large amounts of plasticisers to PVC to make it flexible and durable. Plasticisers may account for more than one-third of the weight of some PVC products. Phthalates are the mainstay plasticisers. Unfortunately, they migrate to the surface of the plastic over time and escape into the environment. As a result, PVC plastics become less flexible and durable. In addition, people who come into contact with the plastics face possible health risks. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission in 2009 banned use of several phthalate plasticisers for use in manufacture of toys and child care articles.

The scientists describe development of a way to make phthalate permanently bond, or chemically attach to, the internal structure of PVC so that it will not migrate. Laboratory tests showed that the method completely suppressed the migration of plasticiser to the surface of the plastic. “This approach may open new ways to the preparation of flexible PVC with permanent plasticiser effect and zero migration,” the article notes.

The full article can be viewed on the Macromolecules website.

Amcor’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Ken MacKenzie, said, “We are delighted to finalise the acquisition of the Alcan Packaging assets and have their talented team join Amcor. From a strategic perspective, the businesses we have acquired are strongly aligned with our nominated growth segments, and provide the ability to substantially improve the value proposition for our customers.

“We are now focused on ensuring seamless integration of these businesses and on achieving the synergies and opportunities offered by this acquisition.”

The company announcement mentions a purchase consideration of US$1948 million. Earnings for the Alcan Packaging acquired businesses increased in the second half of 2009, predominately because of improved economic conditions and benefits from prior period restructuring.

Coinciding with the acquisition, Amcor has announced a new logo/brand mark that will be progressively rolled out in the coming months. This symbolises the creation of a new company and the beginning of a new era, it says. It features the Amcor “pod” and the tag line “creating a new world of packaging.”

The invention of the first working laser is credited to Theodore H. Maiman. He and some coworkers at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, CA, USA had assembled what is described as a makeshift device that was essentially composed of a coiled flash lamp surrounding a synthetic single-crystal ruby rod. In May 1960, he flipped a switch, saw the light, and the rest is history.

Thomas M. Baer, Executive Director of the Stanford Photonics Research Center, tells the story of the laser’s invention and precursor events in an article titled “Why Celebrate LaserFest?” First published in APS News, the article is posted under the Resources tab on the emdt.co.uk website.

North Rhine-Westphalia is one of the world’s leading nanotechnology locations. By opening the new facility, Bayer MaterialScience is once again demonstrating its commitment to Leverkusen and the industrial location of North Rhine-Westphalia. “This project is evidence of the strength of our site here in Leverkusen. We have an outstanding infrastructure, easy access to raw material and power supplies, sophisticated waste management technology and a highly qualified workforce, including specialists,” says Dr Steffen Kühling, head of Production and Technology in the Coatings, Adhesives, Specialties segment of Bayer MaterialScience.

Bayer MaterialScience has been operating a pilot facility with an annual capacity of 60 metric tons in Laufenburg in the German state of Baden-Württemberg since 2007. CNTs are manufactured from ethylene in a reactor at an elevated temperature using a catalytic process. “Under the right conditions, the next few years will see nanotechnology becoming a powerful branch of industry in Germany, offering attractive job prospects, innovative products and competitive solutions,” states Kühling.

Baytubes® are a highly innovative modification of carbon. They can be added to polymer matrices or metal systems as a filler or modifier to improve their mechanical strength and impart electrical properties. Potential applications for Baytubes® include thermoplastic and thermoset systems and coatings. When used in coatings for ships, Baytubes ensure very high abrasion resistance. At the same time they reduce the flow resistance between the ship’s hull and the water, resulting in a significant reduction in fuel consumption. Further applications for carbon nanotubes include rotor blades for wind turbines, and sports equipment such as skis, hockey sticks and surfboards.

“Nanotechnology is a cross-sectional technology which can play a role in a variety of different industries and application areas. Its potential uses range from industrial production to energy supply and storage, from information technology to intelligent surfaces, and also to some areas of medicine, like diagnosis or therapy,” explains Wolff. Bayer is also playing a pioneering role when it comes to the safe usage of Baytubes carbon nanotubes, with a comprehensive product stewardship program that supports the safe handling of Baytubes from production through processing to application and waste management.