Our Products

Monitoring sedation | Monitoring anaesthesia

Our core technologies are novel sensors for the measurement of blood propofol.

We have published patents to protect our inventions and will use the sensors to develop real-time propofol monitors that work at clinically relevant concentrations.

This means doctors and nurses will be able to measure the concentration of propofol in their patient’s blood in real-time and adjust the amount being giving accordingly.

Our products will help patients receiving propofol for both sedation and general anaesthesia.

We will launch monitoring systems into three distinct markets in the following order:

Monitoring continuous propofol sedation in intensive care units (ICU)

Throughout all developed countries around the world propofol is the sedative drug most commonly given to patients in ICU. It is given via a pump as a continuous infusion into a vein.

Published evidence shows that patients are frequently given too much propofol and this adversely affects their outcome, including increasing the risk of dying. It also increases the amount of time patients spend on a ventilator and the number of days they stay in ICU. Too much sedation is bad for patients and wastes scarce resources; ICU beds, propofol itself, and drugs used to combat the effects of excessive sedation.

Intensive care doctors and nurses regularly take samples of blood from their patients to assess the effect of their treatments. With the first product we are developing they will be able to add a measurement of the blood propofol concentration to their assessment of the adequacy of sedation.

A tiny drop of blood will be placed on our sensor strip and the strip inserted into a monitor. A few moments later the concentration of propofol in the patient’s blood will appear on the monitor’s screen.

The clinician can then adjust the amount of propofol being given to the patient in light of the result.

Monitoring intermittent propofol sedation in hospitals

Propofol is an ideal drug for patients requiring a short period of sedation so they can tolerate unpleasant procedures such as colonoscopy (camera examination of the inside of the bowel). Propofol is given via intermittent bolus injections into the vein.

Patients wake up quickly once the procedure has finished but are often kept in hospital for several hours due to concerns about residual propofol in the blood stream. They are also advised not to return to work and to have someone care for them for the first 24 hours after sedation.

Published research has shown that a patient’s psychomotor performance returns to their baseline performance once the blood propofol concentration has fallen below a certain level.

Using our second product, designed for clinicians administering propofol for procedural sedation, doctors and nurses will be able to determine when it is safe for a patient to be discharged and return to their normal activity. By not detaining patients unnecessarily, hospitals will improve their use of day case and ambulatory care facilities, allowing more patients to have their procedure each day. There is also a key economic benefit with patients being able to return to work safely more quickly

Continuous monitoring of propofol anaesthesia during surgery

Higher doses of propofol given continuously result in general anaesthesia. When given in this way it is called Total Intravenous Anaesthesia (TIVA). TIVA has been in use for decades and is the only alternative to administering anaesthetic gases.

Anaesthetic gases cause more environmental damage through global warming than any other drugs. They are potent greenhouse gases and there is growing international pressure to abandon their use.

When anaesthetists are asked why they don’t use the much cleaner technique of TIVA more often, they commonly say it is because they can’t measure the concentration of the anaesthetic (propofol) in the patient’s system.

Our continuous monitoring system will allow anaesthetists to more accurately adjust the dose of propofol being given, tailoring the anaesthetic to each patient. It will also provide a rapid alert if there are problems with the delivery of propofol into the patient’s vein, a safety system that doesn’t exist presently.

Ultimately, our sensor may even be incorporated into the smart-pump propofol delivery system, providing a feed-back loop for semi-automated drug delivery.