Regional anaesthesia innovation set to improve patient safety across Europe

The company, which has been supported by Health Innovation East over the last five years, has partnered with German company Temena to distribute rights for SAFIRA®, which stands for SAFer Injection for Regional Anaesthesia.

Regional anaesthesia is a widely used anaesthetic practice to place peripheral nerve blocks to numb a specific part of the body prior to a surgical procedure, so that the patient remains awake but feels nothing.

SAFIRA® was invented by clinicians at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust and developed in conjunction with medical device company Medovate, to help improve clinical practice and promote patient safety. Normally, regional anaesthesia practice is a two-person procedure. However, using the SAFIRA® system makes it a one-person procedure, giving the anaesthetist full control without the need for an assistant.

The technology also incorporates a built-in safety cut-off to reduce the risk of nerve damage from the injection.

Medovate spun out from MedTech Accelerator, which Health Innovation East is a funder of, and provides funding to clinical entrepreneurs developing new medical technology with the potential to improve patient care.  Recognising the potential of SAFRIA® for patients, Health Innovation East entered a strategic partnership with Medovate in 2022.

“We’re delighted to have supported Medovate on their journey to help realise the spread and adoption of SAFRIA® and the associated benefits for both clinicians and patients. We look forward to working with Medovate during this exciting next chapter into European markets.”

Phil Shelton,  Interim Commercial Director , Health Innovation East

German company Temena specialises in the development, manufacturing, distribution and sale of medical devices for locoregional anaesthesia. Their appointment as a European-based distributor for the SAFIRA® technology will allow anaesthetists in France, Germany, Italy and Spain to bring the system into their everyday practice and realise its benefits for both them and their patients. The technology is already being used in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the Middle East.

Stuart Thomson, Vice President of Business Development at Medovate Limited, said:

“I am delighted to have reached agreement with Temena who share our mission to make innovative and high-quality medical devices available to healthcare providers and medical professionals.

“Their proven track record and focus on innovative regional anaesthesia products makes them a natural fit as a distributor partner for our exciting technology developed with NHS clinical innovators.

This new partnership means that the clinical, patient safety and cost saving benefits that the SAFIRA system offers will now be available to regional anaesthetists across parts of Europe. We very much look forward to working with the Temena team.”

SAFIRA® won a Health Services Journal (HSJ) Patient Safety Award for ‘Patient Safety Innovation of the Year’ in 2021. With the use of regional anaesthesia techniques growing, health economic modelling has also shown the SAFIRA® system has the potential to help healthcare providers realise time and cost savings as well as improving patient safety.