INNOVATION AWARDS:With entries now invited for the 2011 Irish Times InterTrade Ireland Innovation Awards, the six winners of the inaugural awards - including overall winner Sigmoid Pharma – report their progress this year
CONCERN/VALID NUTRITION
THE PAST YEAR has been a hectic one for Concern Worldwide, Irelands largest humanitarian organisation and the winner of the Organisational System/Process category along with Valid Nutrition. Innovation has played a continuing part in its approach. In addition to its ongoing work with the neediest people in 28 of the world’s poorest countries, the agency responded to two major natural disasters, the earthquake in Haiti and the floods in Pakistan. Concern also had to deal with the threat of famine in Niger as the extreme and prolonged drought had a devastating effect on farming and livelihoods there.
The agency responded to the crisis early, contributing to preventing a famine by rolling out the innovative mobile phone cash-transfer programme it had used successfully in Malawi and Kenya.
This involves giving cheap mobile phones to trusted people, who then receive coded text messages enabling them to withdraw cash from mobile banks. This cash was then used to buy whatever supplies each person and their family needed. Not everyone could have a phone, so handsets were sometimes shared between communities, explains Paul O Mahony, the agency’s head of communications.
Valid Nutrition was also a winner in the same category. The Irish social enterprise set up by Steve Collins, a medical doctor, researches, designs and manufactures a range of ready-to-use foods (RUFs) in Africa.
These RUFs are highly fortified oil-based pastes designed to treat and prevent various forms of malnutrition. Currently, Valid Nutrition’s operations employ about 80 people in Africa, Ireland and the UK. It has manufacturing operations in Malawi and Kenya already and is opening a new facility in Ethiopia this month.
Unicef, a major customer in Ethiopia for RUFs, is expected to visit the plant and provide certification soon.
The products are made in the countries that need them thereby stimulating the local economy as well as helping the starving.
This progress is particularly welcome in the context of regular droughts and famine in Ethiopia and the growing conflict-related humanitarian crises in the Horn of Africa.
Valid Nutrition’s operations will produce about 2 million life-saving sachets this year and the figure is expected to grow by at least 35 per cent annually. The company is also hoping to expand its activities to the Indian continent in due course.
Valid Nutrition currently has new recipes undergoing extensive field trials in various countries in Africa. This programme is funded by Irish Aid.
The new recipes are formulated with cheaper, locally grown ingredients such as soya and maize.
SIGMOID PHARMA
AS DR IVAN Coulter settled into his seat near the front of a plane from London to Dublin last month, it became apparent just how visible his profile has become as chief executive of Sigmoid Pharma, a biopharmaceutical development company. A number of fellow travellers halted on entering the aircraft to greet Coulter, who was sitting with an acquaintance. “He was shocked because three different people stopped as they came in and said they had seen me in the paper last week,” he says.
Since the company scooped top prize in the Irish Times Innovation Awards 2010 earlier this year, Coulter has been invited to contribute to many high-profile events and to write newspaper articles. “That day, to me, highlights that people do take notice and, it’s probably too soon to tell what the full impact is, but it has registered,” he says.
But it’s not just about the company’s increased public profile, Sigmoid Pharma has been forging ahead with clinical trials in the UK and Ireland to test SmPill, its new formulation for delivering Ciclosporin, an immunosupressant drug, more effectively to patients with the chronic inflammatory bowel condition ulcerative colitis.
“Ultimately, unmet patient needs remain the primary focus for Sigmoid,” says Coulter. “Proving clinical effectiveness will, in turn, lead to commercial success. All stakeholders – patients, investors, the Sigmoid team and carers – will then be the winners.”
The phase two study is expected to finish early next year and it has caught the eye of many, he adds. “We are also raising a lot of interest with the industry players. They are taking a close look at the developments and are keenly awaiting the outcome of the phase two study.”
The company has other projects on the go too. It is working with Science Foundation Ireland investigators Prof Cormac Taylor at University College Dublin and Prof Padraic Fallon and Dr Ed Lavelle at Trinity College Dublin to look at oral drug delivery for bowel conditions and vaccines. In addition, Sigmoid now has a material transfer agreement with a leading vaccine company, according to Coulter.
The company has led a consortium of 25 European gastroenterologists that were invited into vaccine and nano-formulation groups seeking multi-million euro grants through the European Commission.
Coulter sees this as a period of consolidation for the company, which he views as a positive in an area where many have battened down the hatches because of the recession.
“Focused determination is the key factor for growth in the pharma sector,” he says. “The Sigmoid team and clinical networks of excellence are very strong. Sigmoid is focused on commercialising the ulcerative colitis product as well as the oral peptide and vaccine technologies.
“In 2011, we will advance development of a Crohns disease product that has blockbuster potential too.”
NEUROLINK
NEUROLINK HAS CONTINUED to expand since winning its award in the Public Service category. Neurolink is a web-based tool that allows GPS direct access to consultant neurologists for initial diagnosis and advice as to whether the patient should attend in person and of any tests to be completed first. Patients can be referred the same day.
Consultant neurologists respond to these referrals within 48 hours and decide, based on the information supplied, the level of urgency of the situation and whether an appointment is required. Advice is given for less urgent cases on possible investigations that should be considered and management plans. It means that patients and GPs are better informed about the process involved.
Dr Niall Tubridy, a consultant neurologist at St Vincents University Hospital in Dublin, came up with the concept and brought it to fruition in conjunction with Healthlink, an electronic communications project funded by the Health Service Executive.
Tubridy says he has noted a steady increase in the number of GPs who are using Neurolink and this has helped to boost efficiency at St Vincent’s hospital. The neurology consultants at the hospital work in rotation to respond to the referrals. “Of more than 600 referrals received so far, about 20 per cent do not need to be seen, thus freeing up valuable clinic slots for other patients,” he says.
“The knock-on effect is that waiting times to be seen in the neurology department have fallen, which was the overall aim of the concept initially.
A number of other neurology departments around the country have started to use the system now too. The National Cancer Strategy adopted the template developed for Neurolink this year and uses it in a number of areas to help speed up referrals of people with suspected cancer throughout the country. This has been very successful so far.
St Vincent’s neurology department now hopes to develop Neurolink to allow the consultants to pre-order brain scans and other tests so as to limit the number of times that patients are required to attend the hospital where possible.
The development of an off-shoot of Neurolink for use within the hospital has enabled patients referred from other teams to neurology to be seen by a specialist much earlier. This has helped to cut down waiting times for those in the accident and emergency department.
BIANCAMED
BiancaMed was Innovation Award winner in the Product/Service category. Since receiving the award, the company has made significant progress in implementing its business plan, successfully developing its customer pipeline and closing several valuable commercial agreements, says Leo Toole, chief financial officer. "We are currently transferring our sensor technology to production with a view to completing our first mass production run early next year - a hugely significant milestone to validate our technology and increase our momentum," Toole says.
"Winning the award helped to increase our profile outside Ireland. We work closely with Enterprise Ireland to develop markets in North America, Europe and Asia and we find it very helpful to reference our recent award to build effective relationships quickly with blue-chip global players.
"It was also a tremendous validation of the progress made to develop and commercialise our breakthrough technology in the areas of sleep and breathing. Moreover, it was excellent to recognise the combined efforts of our expert engineering and commercial team," says Toole.
Next year, Biancamed expects to build on its recent commercial success to grow the company.
EASYDRY
EASYDRY, THE WINNER in the Green-tech category in the Innovation Awards, says the accolade has helped it to promote its single-use towel in hair and beauty salons around the country. "It helped us to gain lots of useful press and radio coverage, which allowed us to drive home the message and reach out to potential customers," says Anne Butterly, the founder of the firm.
"This let them know how Easydry could slash their energy use, cut their bills and end the huge waste of power and water used in washing and drying hundreds of towels every week."
While her business cannot ignore the recession, Butterly says that her customer base is likely to suffer a little less than some other sectors thanks to what is known as "the lipstick effect".
"When people are feeling the pinch financially, they might cut back on major expenditure, but will still splash out on what they see as small luxuries, such as hairdressing and beauty treatments," she explains.
Next year, as well as continuing to create new solutions for its client base, it will be investing in the development of a new range of products and innovations for other sectors that depend on a constant supply of clean laundry, such as hospitality, leisure and healthcare.
"We will also be rolling out Easydry internationally, especially in those countries where water shortages are a fact of life," she says. "The five years since we started trading have been an amazing ride, but the Easydry story has just begun."
C-TRIC
SINCE ITS success in the Cross Border Category of the Irish Times Innovation Awards, the Clinical Translational Research and Innovation Centre (C-Tric) has been building itself into a thriving hub for healthcare innovation on the island. It now represents a key adoption site for new healthcare products into the UK National Health Service, one of the world's largest healthcare markets.
Higenx, which developed a hand hygiene-monitoring system, continues to use the C-Tric facility as a base from which to clinically evaluate and launch their products. C-Tric has facilitated partnerships between Higenx and indigenous companies Hunter Apparel Solutions and Surewash, towards the development of a "Smart" uniform and a hand wash training and compliance product, respectively.
C-Tric staff and University of Ulster researchers have recently established SmartAIR Medical to commercialise novel technologies aimed at monitoring inhaled medication compliance.
SmartAIR Medical led by Brian Duffy, a bioengineer from Donegal, recently won the Biotech category of Northern Ireland's 25K Business Plan competition. The company, based at the C-Tric facility, is working with respiratory experts to clinically evaluate the product.
In addition, as Northern Ireland's only purpose-built clinical research facility, C-Tric manages a variety of clinical studies in areas such as cardiac rehabilitation, diabetes and connected health. The Tuda study is examining the link between diet, genetics and health in adults over 60 years of age living in Ireland.
