Disruptive Technology to Improve Palliative Care
An exciting new collaboration is underway in the West of Ireland, bringing disruptive technology into the palliative care space.
A consortium of four organisations have joined forces to bring to market innovative medical devices aimed at improving the treatment experience for people with late-stage cancers, half of whom develop malignant pleural effusions (MPE)1 , also known as ‘fluid on the lung’, a condition that causes breathlessness, chest pain and a lot of patient distress.
With average life expectancy increasing, the market for palliative care is expected to double worldwide in the next decade2. The total addressable market opportunity for MPE in the US and Europe is $1.2 billion. There has been no significant innovation in the MPE standard of care for over 20 years.
Now, a west of Ireland consortium will address this gap, having successfully secured €1.83m funding from the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF) Call 3. The DTIF is a competitive fund implemented by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, for enterprise co-funded disruptive technology projects.