A ground-breaking device that reduces the risk of intravenous medication errors could see a kiwi start-up break into the fast-expanding healthcare technology export market.
Auckland medical device start-up Veriphi is raising $2 million through crowdfunding platform Snowball Effect to complete its hospital trials and expand internationally.
The company has developed a laser technology product that automatically verifies the identity and concentration of a drug in intravenous medication as it is administered, to reduce hospitalerror.
Veriphi founder and managing director Greg Shanahan said intravenous medication errors were twice as likely to harm patients as other drug administration methods.
A report from the Institute of Medicine found that in US hospitals, medication error caused an estimated 7000 deaths a year and cost about US$3.5 billion to US$5.6b a year ($4.8b to $7.8b).
"There was a mass fatality in 2012 where more than 60 people were killed and 700 injured from a case of drug contamination emanating from one hospital in Boston," Shanahan said.
"This [solution] could potentially become the gold standard for drug verification, and prevent a lot of damage."
Medical technology company Veriphi is raising $2m. Photo/Supplied
The system works by placing the consumable containing the drug into the beam of the analyser.
The laser beam passes through the drug, to a detector which compares the drug's optical signature to those from a known library. The analyser then alerts the clinician if the drug or its concentration is not what was intended.
