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20 health-tech companies have been identified by Health Innovation Hub Ireland as innovators to watch.
Last week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, TD, launched a list compiled by Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) of Irish companies that are disrupting the health-tech sector with new innovations.
HIHI is a joint venture of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Health, supported by Enterprise Ireland and the Health Service Executive to drive collaboration between the health service and enterprise. It is headquartered at University College Cork and has bases in Dublin, Cork and Galway.
Here are 20 Irish innovators it has identified in the growing health-tech space, with companies looking to improve health services and bring them up to speed in 2022.
Ostoform
Based in Co Westmeath, Ostoform is a medtech start-up that manufactures medical seals for use with patients who have received a colostomy, ileostomy or urostomy.
Founded by CEO Kevin Kelleher along with Rhona Hunt in 2016, Ostoform raised €3m in private equity funding in October last year.
My OT & Me
This online platform offers paediatric occupational therapy (OT) resources for children and young people with different abilities to develop basic skills needed in everyday activities.
Based in Cork, My OT & Me was founded by Jess Kennedy and Seán Ó Tuama in 2018. The health-tech is currently piloting a new paediatric OT service with 30 children and their families in Cork city who are awaiting OT intervention services.
Zendra Health
Dublin-based Zendra Health works with healthcare services to provide digital health platforms, with the aim of helping with patient engagement and care optimisation. During the pandemic, the start-up also turned its attention to helping healthcare workers.
Founded by twin brothers David and Thomas Coleman, the company developed an app to support hand therapy teams, for example, prompting patients to do their rehab exercises, showing them how to carry exercises out correctly and recording progress, reducing the need to travel to hospital for outpatient appointments.
Wellola
Wellola is a communications platform for hospital and clinics. Its secure patient portal includes an online reservations system, video consultations, integrated payments, and e-invoicing and messaging in compliance with GDPR.
A former Start-up of the Week on SiliconRepublic.com when it was called PhysioLinked, Wellola was founded in 2017 by CEO Sonia Neary.
Hygiene Audits
This Kildare-based start-up has developed a software platform to help clinical sites to track and trace infection risks and measure compliance with national and international standards. The hygiene auditing system gathers, monitors and displays the data on a management dashboard.
Glenda Hahn and Yvonne O’Loughlin founded Hygiene Audits in 2018.
SyncroPhi
SyncroPhi is a Galway health-tech company that has developed a wireless patient monitoring system for patients, enabling nurses and doctors to monitor vital signs remotely.
Co-founded by CEO David Toohey, the medtech start-up received €1m in seed funding from the AIB Seed Fund and the Western Investment Fund in 2013 to bring its device to market.
ViClarity
ViClarity provides governance, risk and compliance software to the financial and healthcare sectors. Information is gathered in real time and displayed on a live dashboard, allowing healthcare facility managers to see any areas of non-compliance quickly and easily.
Headquartered in Tralee, Co Kerry, with offices in Boston and Iowa, ViClarity was founded by John Ogie Sheehy in 2008.
HiberGene Diagnostics
HiberGene is a medtech start-up that develops, manufactures and markets rapid diagnostic tests. It recently received EU approval for a rapid molecular Covid-19 test.
Based in Dublin, the start-up is now led by Dr David Corr and it raised $2.1m in 2014 from private investors along with Enterprise Ireland and Kernel Capital.
Dental Tech Group
This company has made an oral care programme for older people that incorporates blended learning with online interactive modules and offline practical exercises. It is aimed at care assistants, nurses, family members and older people themselves.
Dental Tech Group has bases in Dublin, Wexford and Waterford, and is led by managing director Bevin Mahon.
Salaso
Salaso has developed a platform that is used by healthcare providers and clinicians to help patients perform their prescribed exercises, both in hospitals and at home. The platform focuses on physical rehabilitation and wellness, with an online exercise library supporting rehabilitation and therapy across a wide range of clinical areas.
The company, a previous SiliconRepublic.com Start-up of the Week, was founded in 2011 by Aoife Ní Mhuirí and is based in Co Kerry. Last month, the company said it plans to expand its team after securing fresh funding.
YellowSchedule
This Limerick-based company has built an appointment scheduling platform to make hospital visits safe for patients and healthcare workers. It was founded in 2012 by Martina and Michael Skelly.
During the pandemic, YellowSchedule teamed up with HIHI and hospitals in Ireland to help schedule visits, monitor visitor numbers and perform contact tracing. It also started working with Dublin tech company Vitro Software on a clinical management software platform to reduce hospital waiting lists.
Gasgon Medical
Gasgon Medical is a Cork-based health-tech start-up that has designed AirVault, a device for removing air bubbles from fluids primarily in medical IV infusions. It aims to remove the need for nurse intervention by automatically capturing air bubbles before they become a problem, and to deliver a more accurate infusion dose so patients are treated and recover faster.
Founded by Vincent Forde, it was named the overall winner of the 2021 InterTradeIreland Seedcorn competition last November, receiving a €100,000 cash prize.
PacSana
This start-up focuses on supporting families and carers with technology to help prolong independent living for older or vulnerable people. It has developed wearable technology that allows care providers to remotely monitor people in their own homes.
The PacSana bracelet provides data on movement and activity, and the company has also developed a wearable thermometer and fingertip pulse oximeter to monitor other vitals. It was founded in 2019 by Feargal Duignan and is based in Dublin. Last year, it raised €650,000 to help accelerate business growth in the US.
Novus Diagnostics
Novus Diagnostics, formerly known by the name of its main product SepTec, has built a point-of-care diagnostic device that screens blood for sepsis-associated bloodstream infection, detecting and identifying pathogens within 15 minutes.
It was dubbed the One to Watch at the 2018 Big Ideas showcase of science-led start-ups. Founded by Dr Elaine Spain and Dr Kellie Adamson, the health-tech start-up is based in Dublin.
SymPhysis
Another SiliconRepublic.com Start-up of the Week, SymPhysis combines design and digital technology to deliver a high standard of patient care at home.
Its product called RelEase is a minimally invasive technology that incorporates an active component designed to accelerate treatment of malignant pleural effusions, or fluid build-up in the lungs. The start-up was founded by Michelle Tierney and Tim Jones and is based in Co Galway.
Think Biosolution
Think Biosolution is an original design manufacturer that has created privately labelled wearable devices and customised software using sensor technology for remote patient monitoring.
Founded by Dr Shourjya Sanyal and Koushik Kumar Nundy in Dublin, the health-tech has previously been featured on SiliconRepublic.com as a Start-up of the Week.
xWave Technologies
This health-tech start-up aims to deliver smart healthcare platforms that “empower patients and their clinicians to access the best healthcare solutions at the touch of a button”, according to CEO Mitchell O’Gorman. Based in Dublin, xWave has raised €600,000 in pre-seed funding to develop a radiology referral tool called xRefer.
The cloud-based platform lets users send referrals from either a computer or mobile device, with a search function that helps clinicians in public and private hospitals determine the most appropriate scans to suit patient needs.
MedDeus
This Dublin-based start-up is on a mission to solve the ubiquitous problem of illegible hand-written prescriptions. It has created a cloud-based system called ClearScribe that helps deliver printed prescriptions at the point of care and improve the efficiency of medication dispensation.
In 2020, Blackrock Clinic partnered with MedDeus to trial ClearScribe in an effort to address errors in the medication prescribing process. The company’s directors are William O’Connell and Maire Allen.
FeelTect
FeelTect is a Galway medtech start-up that is trying to improve treatment for patients with venous leg ulcers. It is developing a pressure sensing device called Tight Alright that can be easily and securely attached to a compression bandage to measure and monitor pressure under the bandage.
The data collected can then be used by healthcare professionals to address issues with compliance or make informed decisions on changes in compression regimens. The start-up was founded by Dr Andrew Cameron and Darren Burke.
PPR Healthcare
PPR, which stands for post-partum relief, focuses on the area of post-birth healthcare for mothers. The company has a range of over-the-counter products, called A New Mum, that aim to help mothers struggling with infection and discomfort after giving birth.
The company has also designed a disposable pair of briefs for new mothers to help with healing, cooling and soothing of sensitive areas in the weeks after giving birth. It was founded by Marian Kennedy in Co Tipperary.
Updated, 2pm, 28 February 2022: This article was updated to include the correct names of MedDeus’ directors.
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