University of Limerick Invent a New Metal for Medical Devices

Scientists and engineers from the Materials and Surface Science Institute (MSSI) at the University of Limerick have invented a new metal that will make medical devices inside the body more visible under X-ray.

The team have developed a revolutionary metal alloy from which medical devises can be constructed to make them fully visible under x-ray, thereby significantly positively affecting patient outcomes and recovery times.  

The research was conducted through an Innovation Partnership between the University of Limerick and the international medical devices company COOK Medical, which was supported through the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnership Programme.

Many medical devices, such as stents and valves which are placed in the body through minimally invasive surgical procedures significantly reduce patient trauma and hospitalisation time. These procedures are usually carried out with the help of some kind of medical imaging such as X-ray fluoroscopy so that a surgeon has clear visibility of where the device is placed.

A fundamental problem with current materials used for making these devices is that they do not show up very well under X-ray. The problem becomes even more acute when the size of the medical device becomes smaller. Using X-ray visible markers is a less than optimal solution.

‘An ideal solution is a device that is fully visible under the X-ray’ said Dr. Syed Tofail, Lead Scientist of the UL research team ‘but the alloy would have to be developed based on the currently approved alloys for medical devices. Up to now many companies have used gold or platinum to modify existing alloys, which improve x-ray visibility but are very expensive. We have identified a number of alloying elements that will make these devices as visible as those where platinum has been added to enhance the visibility, but at a significantly reduced cost’.

‘Tests on a prototype wire of the newly developed alloy have shown its potential for use in a number of COOK products’ said Mr. Shay Lavelle, the Lead Investigator from COOK Medical. The global market for minimally invasive surgical devices is estimated to reach the level of €17 to €26 billion in 2015/2016. ‘The fact that the raw materials are more viable than  the platinum added solutions also means that the commercialisation potential of this newly developed alloy is very high’ he added.

Bill Doherty, Executive Vice President of COOK Medical for Europe, Middle East and Africa and the Managing Director of the Irish operation, expressed his delight on the success of the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnership between COOK and UL; “This project is a good example of the strength of UL in translational research where research strongly impacts the industrial community.

Building on Enterprise Ireland’s support, UL and COOK’s ability to work closely together, will be extremely helpful in implementing this breakthrough technology into commercial products that benefit patients worldwide”.

Professor Noel O’Dowd, MSSI Director, notes that the project builds on MSSI’s experience in developing new materials for industrial applications. MSSI’s materials’ design and processing capability and the state of the art infrastructure for materials’ characterisation have been critical in developing this ground breaking alloy.

The success of this research shows a high return on investment made by the Irish government both on commercialisation of research and the research infrastructure.

COOK Medical is the largest privately owned medical device manufacturer in the world. The Irish factory is based at the National Technology Park, Limerick employing almost 800 people as part of a worldwide Cook Medical workforce of over 10,000.

Materials and Surface Science Institute, University of Limerick

• The Materials & Surface Science Institute (MSSI) is a multidisciplinary research institute generating state-of-the-art fundamental research on topics of industrial significance in the field of materials; Health, Transport, Energy and Clean Technology.
• MSSI also leads a European Research Team developing textiles which will kill the MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) superbug.
• MSSI researchers have developed a novel medical device technology to increase angioplasty success rates and improve patient care.
• Researchers submitted 27 invention disclosures which resulted in 9 new patent applications, while 8 agreements to commercialise UL inventions were signed with external companies.
• The University of Limerick is an independent, internationally focussed University with over 11,600 students and 1,300 faculty and staff.
• Our focus on commercialisation has yielded 6 promising spin-off companies in recent years involving a combined investment in excess of €60m and providing high-value jobs within the Shannon Region.
• UL was recently awarded a five star rating for Innovation by the international, independent ratings company, QS Stars™.  The QS audit for Innovation examined the University’s records for patents, spin-off companies and industrial research.
• 94% of UL's 2010 PhD Graduates are in employment with the vast majority of these working in Ireland.

Market data taken from BCC Research (2011) The Market for Minimally Invasive Medical Devices and Kalorama Information (2011) Minimally Invasive Surgical Devices, World Market.