Project description
Proprietary technology safeguards against intravenous tube dislodgement
Nearly 3.8 billion intravenous tubes are used annually, rendering intravenous therapy the most performed invasive treatment in Europe and the United States. However, tube dislodgement accidents incur extra healthcare costs and expose nurses to unnecessary risks such as contaminated blood and toxic medications. To address this problem, the EU-funded ReLink project has developed a proprietary safety connector to safeguard patients and nurses against such issues. The project will work towards further developing the product alongside carrying out the necessary regulatory, intellectual property and networking activities to bring it from its current prototype phase to the market.
Objective
Intravenous (IV) therapy is the channelling of medicine and blood directly into a patient’s venous system using a plastic tube. With 3.8 billion tubes used per year, it is the most performed invasive treatment in Europe and USA. However, up to 36% of all these treatments are interrupted by an accidental pull to the tube, costing healthcare an annual €28.3 billion. When this happens, the patient will get hurt and blood and medicine will be spilled. It takes a nurse on average 30 minutes to tend to the patient, clean the spill and reinstate therapy. And when doing so, the nurse puts him or herself at risk for being exposed to contaminated blood and toxic medication such as chemotherapy. There global nursing shortage will worsen with population ageing, IV dislodgement does not help this situation. What can help is the ReLink safety connector. ReLink is an award-winning, patented technology which is low cost to produce, intuitive to use, and have the potential to create a new annual market worth €11.4 billion in Europe and USA. The objective for the proposed project is to grow ReLink from its current prototype phase to a market ready product. This involves product development to frozen design (WP 1), regulatory activities to secure clinical evidence, ISO certificate, CE mark and apply for FDA approval (WP 2), intellectual property related activities (WP 3), as well as market surveillance and networking to secure the supply chain, prepare for post-project investments and support from future customers (WP 4) and project management and growing the team (WP 5). Tada Group’s business model is to focus on R&D and marketing. Our core competence is need based product development and evidence based medtech marketing. Production and sales will be done by strategic partners, thus keeping cost of goods low as sales increase. ReLink prevents dislodgement, we will reshape the IV landscape and save lives. Will you join our quest? Join Tada!
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Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
111 39 Stockholm
Sweden
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.