Every breath you take: AusHealth partners with Ventora Medical to revolutionise breathing support for babies
AusHealth’s partnership with Ventora Medical will advance an innovative device that promises to improve breathing support for newborns
Each year in Australia, 30,000 newborns will need some form of respiratory support. This includes 10,000 premature babies whose lungs are not fully developed.
Existing neonatal respiratory support methods – such as Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) or High Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC) – have a flaw: owing to factors such as interface fit, leaks and airway resistance, clinicians can’t tell how much pressure is reaching the baby’s upper airways.
As a result, clinicians need to rely on a ‘guess and check’ method that can lead to over- or under-delivery of pressure. This may cause secondary respiratory complications, prolong the baby’s hospital stay, or increase the risk of long-term health issues.
Now, a Melbourne-based medical technology startup called Ventora Medical has created a device that continuously measures airway pressure for babies on non-invasive breathing support.
According to Edward Buijs, CEO and co-founder of Ventora Medical, “Our clinical pilot study demonstrated that babies with similar weight and clinical status, receiving the same prescribed level of support, were sometimes receiving markedly different airway pressures.”
Ventora’s solution is the Ventora Airway Pressure Monitor.
The innovative dual-function device combines airway pressure monitoring with the functionality of a feeding tube. It provides clinicians with objective feedback of the actual pressure being delivered to the baby’s airways, to enable better informed, proactive and tailored treatment.
It also minimises invasiveness to the baby, with minimal change to medical procedure.
By making the invisible visible, Ventora hopes to reduce the incidence and severity of breathing-related complications, decrease failures of non-invasive support, and ultimately improve survival and long-term health outcomes for newborns.
According to AusHealth Ventures Manager Belinda Wade, “AusHealth’s funding will support an ongoing clinical feasibility trial at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Victoria to help validate the safety, performance and usability of Ventora’s device in a real-world clinical environment. It will also help to miniaturise the current prototype.
“We are thrilled to support this groundbreaking Australian innovation and help Ventora evolve their research from the lab, through clinical trials to commercialisation and marketplace.”
The global annual sales for neonatal respiratory devices are approximately A$3 billion with further growth forecast. The use of non-invasive breathing support has increased 8.7% annually in Australian and New Zealand NICUs from 2010 to 2019.
According to Edward Buijs, the current feasibility study will also allow Ventora to evaluate how patient, user and environmental factors may influence device performance, and confirm the effectiveness of device design updates.
“This feasibility study is critical to ensuring Ventora’s Airway Pressure Monitor functions safely and effectively in its intended clinical environment.
“Ventora is delighted to partner with AusHealth to undertake this important research, which aims to create a new standard of neonatal respiratory care.”