Upper GI Therapy Device Makes Entry to Market

Medical device company Medovate has secured the exclusive rights to bring to market a pioneering endoscopic surgical device, ENDOVAC, which has the potential to dramatically improve survival of patients with life threatening infection following a leak from the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

Developed by a team led by Mr Andrew Hindmarsh, Consultant Oesophagogastric Surgeon at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, ENDOVAC is also backed by a £1.2m grant from the National Institute for Health Research, which has a number of regional specialist partners including the Hospital, the Cambridge Clinical Trials Unit, Health Enterprise East and Suffolk-based JEB Technologies Ltd. Medovate’s role is to attain regulatory approval and commercialise this technology, with a view to beginning clinical evaluation as early as 2021 and market launch thereafter.

Formerly treated by surgery, a more recent treatment strategy for this problem called Endoluminal Vacuum Therapy (EVT) still needs improvement as it requires multiple technically difficult procedures under general anaesthesia in an operating theatre to be successful.

ENDOVAC is a ground-breaking progression of EVT, delivering treatment without the need for general anaesthesia, providing a safer, quicker, easier and cheaper option. Importantly, it is far less traumatic for patients enabling mobility during treatment, unlike standard EVT, where patients are often confined to their hospital beds.

Robert Donald, New Business Manager at Medovate, said: “ENDOVAC offers a deceptively simple solution to a complex problem that has sadly claimed many lives over the years. The team at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have come up with a straightforward yet effective device that presents a compelling proposition in terms of both patient outcomes and potentially significant cost-savings to the NHS.

“ENDOVAC is a natural addition to the Medovate portfolio of innovations in the fields of surgery, anaesthesia and intensive care. We are excited to be working with Mr Andrew Hindmarsh and his colleagues to bring such a ground-breaking product to market, and we fully expect to see ENDOVAC in use in our hospitals in the not-too-distant future.”