Medovate, the Cambridge-based medical device development company, has concluded a distribution agreement with Germany-head quartered Temena providing the distribution rights for SAFIRA (SAFer Injection for Regional Anaesthesia) across Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
The SAFIRA system has been developed by Medovate in collaboration with anaesthetists in the UK National Health Service (NHS) and has been designed to help revolutionise standard regional anaesthesia clinical practice and promote patient safety. 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 the patient remains awake but feels nothing.
Standard regional anaesthesia practice is a two-person procedure whereas using the SAFIRA system it becomes a one-person procedure giving the anaesthetist full control without the need for an assistant. The innovative technology also incorporates a unique built-in safety feature which automatically stops injection at a calibrated threshold helping to reduce the risk of nerve damage from injection at high pressure.
Temena was founded in 1985 by Wilhelm Waskönig, a graduate in pharmacy from the University of Bonn (Germany). Temena specialises in the development, manufacturing, distribution and sale of medical devices for locoregional anaesthesia. Temena has an extensive experience of more than thirty-five years of collaboration with public and private hospitals as well as other healthcare organisations.
With the appointment of Temena as a European-based distributor for the novel SAFIRA technology, anaesthetists in France, Germany, Italy and Spain will be able to access and apply the SAFIRA system in their everyday practice and realise the benefits of the award-winning technology for both them and their patients.
Stuart Thomson, Vice President of Business Development, 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.”
Mónica Waskönig, General Manager added: "Temena is delighted to have partnered with Medovate to become the exclusive distributor across Germany, France, Italy and Spain for the SAFIRA (SAFer Injection for Regional Anaesthesia) system. We have always paid great attention to doctors and anaesthetists’ needs and feedback and that is why we are honoured to provide them with this revolutionary technique.
"Temena has a long tradition in supplying Europe and the world with innovative solutions in regional anaesthesia and products that create benefits for clinicians and their patients; the addition of the SAFIRA system aligns perfectly with this tradition and allows us to keep improving patients’ quality of life. This agreement will allow regional anaesthetists across Europe to offer their patients access to this award-winning technology, potentially enhancing patient care and outcomes in the field of anaesthesia.”
With rates of use of regional anaesthesia techniques growing consistently, SAFIRA has the potential to make a significant impact. The novel technology has already launched across the UK, Australia and New Zealand, Singapore and the Middle East.
SAFIRA won the prestigious Health Services journal (HSJ) award for “Patient Safety Innovation of the Year 2021”. Health economic modelling has also shown the SAFIRA system to have the potential to help healthcare providers realiser time and cost savings as well as improving patient safety.
