{"id":349888,"date":"2022-01-26T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?post_type=selected&p=349888"},"modified":"2022-01-26T10:30:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T09:30:00","slug":"automating-wound-care-in-hopsitals","status":"publish","type":"selected","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/selected\/automating-wound-care-in-hopsitals\/","title":{"rendered":"Automating wound care in hospitals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chronic wounds are a global medical problem closely linked to diabetes. Every year, two per cent of the US population suffers chronic wounds, many resulting in amputation because they do not heal naturally and are typically infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Consequently, conventional treatment methods such as antibiotics are often not an option. However, start-up VulCur Medtech has now developed an automated laser solution writes the Technical University of Denmark in this press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While competitors are focusing on surface treatment, VulCur MedTech\u2019s treatment goes deeper, cleaning the wounds from the inside out using an automated laser device that kills bacteria while avoiding human cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project is conducted in close collaboration with doctors in the US and Denmark, and the new technology will advance the healthcare sector. The hope is to reduce the healing time of chronic wounds by fifty per cent and avoid half of the amputations currently carried out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChronic wounds are painful and a significant financial burden on the healthcare sector. It doesn\u2019t take much googling to learn that there are many patients with these types of wounds. It\u2019s actually a bigger problem than we expected. Chronic wounds are closely linked to diabetes, which is particularly prevalent in the US. In the US alone, there are 6.5 million new cases of chronic wounds every year,\u201d says Otto \u00d8mann, CTO of VulCur Medtech and recent DTU graduate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economical approach<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

He happened upon VulCur Medtech during his studies at Berkeley University in California, where he took a course in building start-ups. For the past three years, he has been working for VulCur Medtech full-time together with CEO and founder Janus Beierholm, who holds a degree in biochemistry from the University of Copenhagen, and two electrical engineers from Lithuania and Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team is based at DTU Skylab\u2019s Developer Hall, where they develop prototypes and assemble the final products with the help of freelancers and students. The work often takes place in DTU Skylab\u2019s workshops using both laser cutters and 3D printers, but sometimes the team works at Bispebjerg Hospital, where they test the technology in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat sets us apart from other start-ups is that we have a very economical approach which allows us to solve problems very quickly and inexpensively. It\u2019s pretty extreme. Instead of paying for expensive expert help, we solve the tasks ourselves. That\u2019s usually faster than explaining our problem to someone else. In this way, we\u2019ve come a long way with very little money. However, being able to use the workshops at the DTU Skylab has helped considerably. Without these facilities, we wouldn\u2019t have been able to develop our prototype so quickly,\u201d says Otto \u00d8mann.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast and furious<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Things have been moving at a furious pace since VulCur Medtech was founded in 2018. The start-up has won the Venture Cup\u2014an entrepreneurial competition\u2014both nationally and internationally and has been very successful in attracting venture capital. They\u2019ve also received a grant from the EU Eurostars programme, which supports companies with a focus on research and development. Currently, the team is working on getting the first version of their product approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is in charge of food and drug regulation in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the approval is in place, the company is ready to sell its product on the US market. At the same time, the team wants to test the technology at selected wound care clinics in the US. This means that the full-time team will be moving to the United States, where they will observe the technology being used in collaboration with doctors, nurses, and patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur presence at the clinics will allow us to learn more about our own product in a realistic framework. There, we get to observe how our product is used and what mistakes are made,\u201d says Otto \u00d8mann.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlthough it\u2019s not necessary to perform tests in order to sell a product in the US, we\u2019re going to do it anyway because we want to show good results and optimize the product for the benefit of the patients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Platform for future wound care technologies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Initially, VulCur Medtech is thus aiming to sell their product in the US, where they can get on the market quickly. After that, they hope to enter the Danish and European markets after conducting clinical trials together with doctors at Bispebjerg Hospital in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their vision is to use the device as a platform for all future wound care technologies. Thus, VulCur Medtech wants to automate wound care as much as possible. Otto \u00d8mann hopes this will make the treatment more efficient and gentle using fewer resources compared to the solutions currently available:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur goal is to help as many patients as possible. We want to make something that works well at a reasonable price. That\u2019s why we shouldn\u2019t just build the world\u2019s most expensive device. Our solution should be accessible to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also interesting: <\/strong><\/em>No more trips to China: Dutch manufacturer benefits from production demand for medical devices close to home<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2084,"featured_media":349889,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":""},"categories":[34665],"tags":[37420,56372,126613,67100],"location":[56342],"internal_archives":[],"class_list":["post-349888","selected","type-selected","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-diabetes-en","tag-technical-university-of-denmark","tag-vulcur-med","tag-wound-treatment","location-denmark"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/xMU2vNHC-dGL0UDnb-WEB_Vulcur-Medtec-2-1-1-1.jpg","coauthors":[],"author_meta":{"author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/mauro-mereu\/","display_name":"Mauro Mereu"},"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 years ago","modified":"Updated 4 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on January 26, 2022","modified":"Updated on January 26, 2022"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on January 26, 2022 10:30 am","modified":"Updated on January 26, 2022 10:30 am"},"featured_img_caption":"\u00a9 Technical University of Denmark ","tax_additional":{"category":{"linked":["Health<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Health<\/span>"],"slug":"category","name":"Categories"},"post_tag":{"linked":["Diabetes<\/a>","Technical University of Denmark<\/a>","VulCur Med<\/a>","wound treatment<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Diabetes<\/span>","Technical University of Denmark<\/span>","VulCur Med<\/span>","wound treatment<\/span>"],"slug":"post_tag","name":"Tags"},"language":{"linked":["EN<\/a>"],"unlinked":["EN<\/span>"],"slug":"language","name":"Tags"},"post_translations":{"linked":[],"unlinked":[],"slug":"post_translations","name":""},"location":{"linked":["Denmark<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Denmark<\/span>"],"slug":"location","name":"Locations"},"internal_archives":{"linked":[],"unlinked":[],"slug":"internal_archives","name":"Internal Archives"}},"series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected\/349888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/selected"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349888"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=349888"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=349888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}