Navi Medical Technologies is proud to announce that it has secured an Australian government grant worth $879,000 in collaboration with its research partners the University of Melbourne and the Royal Women’s Hospital.
The NHMRC grant will help further the research and development of the Neonav technology that helps doctors and nurses position central venous catheters to safely life-saving drugs and nutrients to critically ill children.
According to the World Health Organisation, nearly 30 million babies born each year require urgent care, and many of these infants require central lines inserted into blood vessels to receive vital medications and nutrients. Unfortunately, misplaced or ‘migrated’ lines occur far too frequently in these babies, potentially leading to devastating complications.
Associate Professor Christiane Theda is a neonatologist at the Women’s and the Chief Medical Officer at Navi.
“Currently, clinical staff don’t know where the catheter tip is located inside the patient during the procedure, which can result in high instances of misplacement as well as further complications,” says A/Professor Theda.
Navi Chief Medical Officer, Christiane Theda, with the Neonav clinical prototype
“The Neonav ECG Tip Location System works a bit like a car’s parking sensor, it provides clinical staff with crucial real-time visual information on where the catheter is located within the patient by analysing ECG signals within the body. This helps avoid misplacement and ultimately allows for faster drug delivery and better patient outcomes.”
The ’Observational Phase’ of the clinical study with collaborators at the Women’s commenced in 2018 and allowed neonatologists to collect intravascular ECG data from 50 newborn patients undergoing Umbilical Venous Catheter procedures.
Following a string of achievements, the 'Feasibility Phase’ of the study commenced in August 2020 at the Women’s to include the use of a clinically-approved prototype version of the Neonav ECG Tip Location System in 50 patients.
To date, the prototype has shown promising early results. The new NHMRC grant is expected to extend this valuable research to include other central line procedures at the Women’s and older patient populations at children’s hospitals.
Since forming in 2017, Navi has raised over AUD$2.3m from investors, grants and government sources to fund early stage R&D and establish global partnerships with leading children’s hospitals and investors.
“This announcement is wonderful validation of our scientific and commercial activities to date. We look forward to continued collaboration with The University of Melbourne, the Women's and other children’s hospitals,” said Shing Yue Sheung, Navi COO.
“We are extremely grateful for this funding which will enable us to continue developing the Neonav with the aim to improve the standard of care for millions of sick kids around the world".