Originally Published EMDM January 2006
Regional Focus
Bioscience Cluster Takes Root in Wales
Dynamic convergence creates opportunities for med-tech companies in the region
People have said that if you gathered together all the automotive companies in Wales, you could make an entire car. These days, you could almost make the same claim for a broad range of medical equipment,” says Gwyn Tudor of the industry association MediWales (Cardiff).
More than 250 bioscience companies are located in Wales, according to the Welsh Development Agency (WDA; Cardiff). Many of the medical device and diagnostic firms are clustered along the M4 corridor and in and around Wrexham and Deeside. There are always a number of factors that contribute to the development of a med-tech cluster. The proximity of a stimulating academic and research environment and the availability of a skilled labour force are essential ingredients. In many cases, a commitment at the public level, manifested by targeted support and a sound infrastructure, is necessary. While all of these elements are present in Wales, a spirit of convergence, as much as anything else, has contributed to the emergence of a successful bioscience cluster.
“Wales possesses intrinsic skills in engineering and electronics, as well as in the medical field,” says Robert B. Wallis, PhD, the bioscience sector manager at WDA. There is a trend toward convergent technologies, he notes, and academic-industrial collaborations in Wales exemplify that. Medical technology is a prime beneficiary, he adds.
Collaborative Research
The Institute of Medical Engineering and Medical Physics at Cardiff University describes its mission as the application of engineering principles to medicine and healthcare. The faculty, which comprises computer scientists; physicians; medical clinicians; and electronic, mechanical, and clinical engineers, takes a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach to research. Currently, the institute is working with industrial partners on the design, development, and testing of orthopaedic products and the development of numerical models to analyze human joint movement. Imaging, medical robotics, and electronic implant design are other key research areas.
“The Wound Healing Research Unit (WHRU) at Cardiff University is another excellent example of academic and industry partnerships,” says Wallis. “It is, in fact, the largest center in the world to specialize in chronic wound management . . . bigger than anything in the United States. That’s pretty remarkable for a region with 2.9 million people,” he adds.
The WHRU acts as an interface between healthcare providers, industry, and the academic community to develop patient-care models based on sound scientific research. Knowledge transfer is a primary objective.
The National Centre for Product Design and Development Research (PDR; Cardiff) is another world-class establishment located in Wales. A hub of innovation, the centre offers design engineering, prototyping, agile manufacture, feasibility studies, and support. PDR has worked on dozens of medical projects, notes Tudor, notably the ProAxis hospital bed from Nightingale Care Beds (Wrexham).
Nightingale has developed an electric profiling bed in which movements are programmed to provide pressure-area care. The design concept was further developed into a bariatric version of the bed, which can provide support and comfort for patients weighing up to 318 kg. It should come as no surprise that the company is breaking into the US market. Earlier this year, it signed a nonexclusive distribution agreement with US-based Hill-Rom, one of the world’s leading suppliers of hospital beds.
The Clinitek Status analyzer from Bayer HealthCare is another success story that is, at least partly, made in Wales. The hugely successful device automatically analyzes urine strips. Thanks to the development of low-cost optical elements, the device costs a fraction of competing analyzers and is sold in more than 100 countries. The Manufacturing Engineering Centre (MEC) at Cardiff University produced prototypes of the instrument as part of a collaborative venture with a consortium of South Wales engineering and design firms operating under the M4 banner.
“MEC is an autonomous research centre, the first of its kind at the university,” explains marketing director Frank Marsh. “When it was founded in 1996, MEC brought to the fore rapid prototyping and other 3-D modelling techniques,” says Marsh. “It also led companies in the M4 group, such as GX Design and Iota Sigma, to modernize.” They and their sister companies in M4 proved to be crucial in obtaining the Bayer project and delivering everything the company needed in a very short time frame, he adds. The device could have been manufactured in Wales, as well, notes Marsh, but for internal reasons, Bayer decided to have it produced by a company it had recently purchased in Suffolk.
“We have several rapid prototyping and casting systems in-house,” says Marsh. “You can have a metal casting from us within three to four days, and we also provide microengineering services. Bayer liked working with the M4 group, because, as one scientist told me, ‘you get the whole meal on one plate.’” That’s not an especially appetizing concept in culinary terms, acknowledges Marsh, but it has undeniable appeal in a business sense.
Currently, the M4 group provides design, development, prototyping, and manufacturing services across a range of industries. It was established to provide inventors and small manufacturers as well as large corporations with access to advanced technologies available in universities. A measure of the initiative’s success is its reach: a quarter of M4’s collective output is directly exported.
Helping Start-Ups to Stay Up
The universities have played a key role in establishing a robust bioscience cluster, agrees Tudor. But one should not neglect the seminal effect that large companies in the region have had, he adds. You need a number of large companies that lose staff over the years, says Tudor, to seed smaller start-ups.
“In the region, we have Huntleigh Healthcare and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, which is part of J&J, and we had Amersham, which is now GE Healthcare,” Tudor adds. “When you start talking to the smaller companies and consultants in Wales, you will find that many of them were established by someone who had started his or her career at one of the larger companies.”
Starting up is one thing, staying up is another, and the regional government and industrial partnerships have been instrumental in providing the type of support a struggling newcomer needs to stay afloat. “Over the past six to seven years, Wales has placed high value on bioscience as a market,” says Tudor. “Specialist incubators have been established around Wales for medical and bioscience start-ups. There has been a high level of support from the government, he adds.
For example, a £50-million investment was recently announced to create the Institute of Life Science (ILS) at Swansea University. ILS will become one of the world’s premier scientific and computing facilities and will host a European Deep Computing Visualisation Centre for Medical Applications. The result of a collaboration agreement between the Welsh Assembly Government, IBM, and Swansea University, the centre will focus on research into mainstream diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiac ailments.
In addition to fostering multidisciplinary research at the intersections of bio- and nanotechnology, deep computing, and informatics, ILS will provide dedicated incubator support for microcompanies.
Tudor also cites the Centre of Excellence for Technology and Industrial Collaboration (CETIC) programme, which provides much-needed help for new, small companies as they seek to industrialize their technologies. Managed by WDA, the CETIC scheme includes 18 centres in the region that have demonstrated excellence in a range of disciplines including providing assistance to companies, explains Tudor. “Typically, a start-up medical device firm that is looking to manufacture its product can go to a range of CETIC centres, depending on its needs. It will find design and moulding capabilities at one location, electronics at another, and so forth,” says Tudor.
Wales has come a long way, but to continue making progress, the region needs to attract financial institutions. That is the next challenge, says Tudor. An Ernst & Young report commissioned by WDA in 2003 noted that Wales would have to make itself attractive to financial institutions to compete with clusters in southeast England, explains Tudor. “We have a couple of investment trusts that specialize in Welsh products,” he says, “but we still need to make ourselves more attractive to financial institutions. I think that’s our next stage of development.”
Supplier Profiles
Intelicoat
Differentiating dressings and plasters by incorporating a printed logo can help device OEMs to stand out from the crowd of “me-too” products. Intelicoat (Wrexham) introduced a range of new services under its Inspire brand at the Medica show in Düsseldorf, Germany, to help its customers brand products with a minimum of fuss. The one-stop-shop concept includes everything from artwork generation to delivery of the finished product.
High-resolution flexographic printing capabilities in widths up to 1.6 m complement the firm’s existing expertise in film and foam manufacture, lamination, adhesive coating, and slitting. Logos, grids, text, and other data can be printed in a single colour on substrates including clear and colour films. A choice of US FDA–approved printed colours is available.
The printing press is contained within a dedicated positive-pressure HEPA-filtered environment to ensure product cleanliness. Printed matter can be encapsulated within films or at the film and foam interface to eliminate risk of chemical or mechanical removal.
Intelicoat supplies a range of advanced flexible components to specialist manufacturers in the wound-care, ostomy, and medical device sectors. Ultrathin polyurethane films and polyurethane or polyethylene foams, adhesives, complex laminates, and conductive substrates are available.
British Biocell International
Rapid-test development, ranging from custom conjugation and feasibility studies to a full product development and contract manufacturing package, is available to OEMs. British Biocell International (BBI; Cardiff) has created a test development service that adapts seamlessly to individual customer needs and is sufficiently flexible to assist with each stage of the development process.
The company also manufactures a high-quality range of flexible gold conjugates for use in various test formats. Colloidal gold offers sensitivity, speed, reliability, and economy in rapid test and immunoassay systems, according to the firm. BBI produces gold particles ranging in size from 1 to 250 nm with narrow size variations. The products feature low clustering, and the firm offers customers complete technical support.
TT Electronics Manufacturing Services Ltd.
A manufacturer of electronic and electromechanical assemblies prides itself on managing all stages in a product’s life cycle from design to end of life. TT Electronics Manufacturing Services (TTems) Ltd. (Rogerstone) has more than 20 years’ experience serving the medical device and other market sectors.
The firm, which is committed to continuous improvement, offers design for manufacture, PCB layout, and new product introduction services. It recently initiated major capital investments to augment its technological capabilities.
TTems encourages customers to view its services as an extension of their own facilities. It is increasingly working with companies at early stages of product development to help them gain a competitive edge and increase market share through design and early cost-down analysis.
Smarta Systems Ltd.
A company designs and develops electronic control systems for use in a variety of sectors. Smarta Systems Ltd. (Llandarcy) supplies controls for low-voltage dc motors, remote-controlled devices and switches, and disability products.
In the healthcare sector, the firm’s products are typically used with patient hoists, beds and reclining chairs, and antientrapment devices. It is also actively engaged in research and development and subcontract manufacturing of electronic controls.
Surgical Materials Testing Laboratory
A company that has been providing physical, biological, and environmental testing since 1977 offers an array of testing services for the global medical device industry. Surgical Materials Testing Laboratory (SMTL; Bridgend) can test dressings and wound-management materials, urology products, gloves, and nebulizers, among other products, to international standards.
Extensible bandages and hydrocolloid and alginate dressings can be tested to determine a number of properties. SMTL also specializes in the development of performance-based test methods for dressings, providing manufacturers with the opportunity to obtain clinically relevant, comparative data on new products and novel formulations.
The firm has more than 15 years of experience testing catheters and other urology products. The tests include physical and biological studies designed to determine that the products are fit for purpose and free from manufacturing residue.
Surgical and examination gloves are tested to determine compliance with all parts of BS/ EN 455. Barrier, strength, extractable protein, endotoxin, and cytotoxic drug breakthrough tests can be performed.
Nebulizer manufacturers and purchasers can make use of a test system that examines particle-size distribution produced by different designs. The system can also evaluate changes that take place in the performance of individual products with extended use and compare the effects of pharmaceutical formulations and nebulizer designs on particle size.
Medical Device Consultancy
Business development assistance, including partner search and selection projects, for medical device, diagnostics, and related companies is offered by a consultancy located in Cardiff. Medical Device Consultancy associates have particular strengths in strategic planning, marketing, new product development, quality system establishment and improvement, auditing, validation, and international regulatory compliance.
Porvair Technology
Porous media are manufactured from sintered plastics and metals for a variety of industrial applications. Porvair Technology (Wrexham) stresses that its materials expertise leads to the development of products for filtration, liquid transfer, and diffusion.
A number of filtration products suited for powder handling, processing, and batch production are designed for use by the pharmaceutical industry. The firm’s pulsed-jet filter systems suited for powder recovery integrate validatable clean-in-place technology. The mobile units are typically used on filling and packaging lines.
Sister company Porvair Filtration Group, based in Fareham, Hants, UK, designs and manufactures high-performance filters and materials for the healthcare and other demanding industries.
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