MediPurpose Launches New babyLance Infant Heel Incision Device Invented By A*STAR Research Scientist

Singapore - MediPurpose, a Singapore-based medical device innovation and medical product distribution company, recently announced the launch of its latest safety medical product, the babyLance heel incision device for infants, in North America and Europe. The babyLance heel incision device provides better control in drawing blood from newborn infants for various tests, removing the need for conventional needle-pricking of fingers.

Designed and invented by Mr Sun Jian Ping, a research scientist seconded from the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, (A*STAR), the babyLance heel incision device, uses an innovative activation mechanism to improve the incision performance. It reduces the penetration depth thus avoiding puncturing any soft bone tissue of the infant. The design of babyLance delivers incision depths that are optimal for infant heel sticks through a pendulum cutting action which creates asingle perfect cut, reducing the pain during incision.

Mr Sun joined MediPurpose under A*STAR's Technology for Enterprise Capability Upgrading (T-UP) scheme, where A*STAR researchers are seconded to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for up to 2years to provide them with Research and Development capabilities to help them improve production process or develop products.

The babyLance heel incision device is listed with FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and received the CE (European Conformity) marking for Europe. The market size for baby heel incision devices in USA is about 30 million pieces a year (Source: GHX 2010)

"The global launch of babyLance is a testimony of SIMTech's strong ties with the industry. This collaboration between MediPurpose and SIMTech should inspire Singapore SMEs to create innovative medical devices through product design and technology. Company size is not a barrier to tap the opportunities in the growing global medtech industry," commented Dr Lim Ser Yong, Executive Director of SIMTech.

"We are very excited about this latest addition to our blood collection medical product portfolio," said MediPurpose founder and CEO Patrick Yi. "After successfully entering the U.S. healthcare market, we commissioned SIMTech to conduct a feasibility study of the heel incision device to complement our first product, the SurgiLance(R) safety lancet. SIMTech followed up on that study by seconding Sun to work with our engineers."

The babyLance will be available in two models:

• The babyLance Newborn (BLN), which delivers an incision depth of 1.00 mm.
• The babyLance Preemie (BLP), which delivers an incision depth of 0.85 mm.

In particular, the babyLance heel incision device includes thoughtful innovative features for end-users in providing safety, comfort and ease of use:

• Ease of activation: Reduces trigger activation force, thereby significantly reducing the risk of bruising
• Unique positioning design: Facilitates a stable and accurate placement against the targeted section of the infant's heel while ensuring the procedure can be performed consistently and quickly
• Compliance with regulatory and quality standards: The babyLance cutting blade's swift pendulum actionmakes an incision that complies with the CLSI LA4-A5 established guidelines
• Cost effectiveness: The babyLance heel incision device incorporates unique design characteristics that allow for the most cost-effective manufacturing process

SOURCE: Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)