Cork healthcare company PMD Solutions has been one of the few selected across Europe to receive €4.2m as part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 funding programme to develop its device for respiratory illnesses.
The Cork company was one of 38 companies across the continent to receive financial backing as part of this round of funding, which will be used to finance innovation activities like demonstration, testing, piloting, scaling up and miniaturisation, as well as developing further business plans for its product.
PMD Solutions, along with the 37 other companies, will also receive 12 days of business coaching from the programme’s mentors.
Set up four years ago, the company currently employs 10 individuals, but with this new funding it has said it will be able to employ a further 11 people over the next 18 months in its marketing and innovation divisions.
The company’s product, RespireSense, has the claim of being one of the first continuous and accurate discrete sensors that measures a patient’s breathing, to help medical staff diagnose the earliest signs of possible patient deterioration, such as increasing severity of sepsis, worsening pneumonia or oncoming heart attacks.
The wireless sensor is placed on the patient’s chest at admission and worn continuously until discharge to deliver highly accurate measurements.
The device is just about to enter use in Ireland at Galway University Hospital and Cork University Hospital, but there are plans in place to have it in 10 hospitals around the world by the end of the year, including in Germany and Hong Kong.
Speaking of the successful funding, PMD Solutions’ founder Myles Murray said: “With each submission we saw our ranking increase, and that process alone helped us to prepare for the future. This funding enables that future to become a reality much sooner. We are all looking forward to revolutionising respiratory monitoring and improving patient care.”
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Doctor listening to child’s breathing image via Shutterstock
Updated 12.09pm 25/11/2015: This article has been amended to reflect the company’s founder is Myles Murray, not Murphy.
