Research Subject Area: Medical Physiology

REF impact found 10 Case Studies

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Biopta: Delivering Drug Testing in Human Tissues to Big Pharma

Summary of the impact

Biopta is a profitable, award-winning company spin-out from Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU). Established in 2002, to deliver commercial products and services developed by university employees, it employs 19 staff across its Glasgow and Beltsville (Maryland USA) offices. It specialises in the provision of instruments and services monitoring drug effects in ethically donated, healthy and diseased human tissue, and counts eight of the top 10 major pharmaceutical companies as clients. To date, Biopta has provided early stage testing on more than 400 new drugs, designed to treat conditions such as high blood pressure, asthma and irritable bowel syndrome, determining their efficacy and potential side effects.

Submitting Institution

Glasgow Caledonian University

Unit of Assessment

Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology, Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medical Physiology

Creation of Thiakis Ltd and Profitable Sale to Wyeth Ltd.

Summary of the impact

Imperial College research on the gut hormone, oxyntomodulin, showed it caused considerable weight loss in man. A powerful long acting analogue suitable for daily human administration (TKS1225) was developed. This was licensed by Imperial to a spinout, Thiakis Ltd, for successful human toxicity testing and then sold to Wyeth for $30 million initially and $120 million on meeting milestones. Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and the full legal agreement was subsequently acquired and developed by Pfizer in 2009.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Clinical Sciences, Nutrition and Dietetics, Medical Physiology

Improving Cardiovascular Health through International Recommendations on Population Intakes of Sodium and Potassium

Summary of the impact

Research by Professor Elliott and colleagues at Imperial College on worldwide salt and potassium intakes, their relationships to blood pressure, and co-authored systematic reviews and meta-analyses of their effects in adults and children on blood pressure and cardiovascular disease — and potential adverse effects — has played an instrumental role in developing international guidelines and public policy on sodium reduction strategies. Furthermore, published primary research has influenced US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strategies for population-wide monitoring of sodium intakes in the USA. This work has thus had impact on policies for sodium reduction and monitoring of sodium intakes worldwide.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Nutrition and Dietetics, Medical Physiology, Public Health and Health Services

LiDCO: Minimally invasive measurements of cardiac output and haemodynamics by lithium dilution and pulse contour analysis

Summary of the impact

Researchers at King's College London developed an algorithm for a novel method of pulse contour analysis that allows continuous estimation of key haemodynamic parameters from an arterial line (PulseCO). They also invented a novel method for clinical measurement of cardiac output using lithium as an indicator and lithium-sensitive ion selective electrodes (LiDCO). Together, these allow rapid and minimally invasive measurements of haemodynamics and fluid status in high risk patients undergoing surgery or in an intensive care unit, facilitating goal directed therapy and reducing complications and costs. LiDCO and PulseCO form the key underpinning technologies for the clinical monitoring systems produced by LiDCO PLC, an AIM listed company with an international customer base.

Submitting Institution

King's College London

Unit of Assessment

Biological Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology, Clinical Sciences, Medical Physiology

Mathematical models for design and stress analysis in the rubber and automotive industries

Summary of the impact

Professor Ray Ogden FRS has made fundamental advances in mathematical models for the elastic response of rubber-like materials. These models have been adopted as the standard starting point for the design and analysis of rubber-like solids and they have been incorporated into the industry-standard commercial `finite element' software packages, including Abaqus, ADINA, ALGOR, ANSYS and MARC. These packages are widely used by professional engineers for design calculations and stress analysis, particularly in the aeronautical and automotive industries, playing a crucial role in design decisions associated with enormous financial investments and with the safe and successful operation of the products involved. Models have now also been constructed for the behaviour of soft biological tissue and these are in widespread use in applications in cardiovascular research and the life sciences.

Submitting Institution

University of Glasgow

Unit of Assessment

Mathematical Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Engineering: Biomedical Engineering, Materials Engineering
Medical and Health Sciences: Medical Physiology

New concepts in the 3-dimensional nature of blood flow improving the treatment of people with peripheral vascular disease and requiring haemodialysis.

Summary of the impact

Commercialisation: Through government grants, institutional and private investors, a medical devices company (Vascular Flow Technologies) was founded.

Products: Spiral Laminar Flow™ Vascular Grafts for use in bypass for peripheral arterial disease and vascular access for haemodialysis.

Market / Sales: Spiral Laminar Flow™ Grafts are sold in 18 countries, with over 3000 grafts implanted (<1% estimated market size) and sales in excess of £1million.

Patient Outcomes: Published and presented clinical series show the grafts have increased survival rates leading to reduced re-interventions and reduced amputations.

Submitting Institution

University of Dundee

Unit of Assessment

General Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology, Medical Physiology

UOA05-21: Nitric oxide: a new first-line treatment for the common and painful condition of anal fissure

Summary of the impact

Collaboration between Professor Alison Brading at the University of Oxford and her clinical colleague, Professor Neil Mortensen, translated her pioneering research on the ability of nitric oxide to act as a neurotransmitter in smooth muscle into a new treatment for the common, painful, condition of anal fissure. For many years the principal treatment was elective surgery, which carries a risk of faecal incontinence. Nitric oxide donors are now used routinely to limit and resolve the development of anal fissure, improving the lifestyle of sufferers and reducing the economic costs associated with time off work and surgical intervention. The treatment has been in existence since 2000, but since 2008 it has repeatedly been confirmed as the most effective non-surgical intervention.

Submitting Institution

University of Oxford

Unit of Assessment

Biological Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology, Neurosciences, Medical Physiology

Spironolactone as a Treatment to extend life in Heart Failure Patients

Summary of the impact

Our research with spironolactone has advanced treatment in heart failure. We conducted the first "proof of concept" study to show that spironolactone had beneficial cardiac effects in man. In patients with heart failure, we demonstrated that it reduced cardiac sympathetic activity and arrhythmias. Spironolactone was pioneered in Dundee as a treatment to reduce deaths in chronic heart failure. This treatment is now recommended (Level A evidence; Class I recommendation) for the treatment of symptomatic heart failure in all guidelines including the 2010 NICE guidelines. It is also now a standard in the 2010 NHS Quality Improvement Scotland standards.

Submitting Institution

University of Dundee

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology, Clinical Sciences, Medical Physiology

Wave Intensity Analysis removes the need for drugs in the diagnosis of coronary heart disease

Summary of the impact

Professor Kim Parker in the Department of Bioengineering has developed Wave Intensity Analysis (WIA) for characterising pressure and flow waves in arteries. It is being used to assess whether patients need interventions to reduce narrowing of their coronary arteries. Conventional diagnoses require the use of a drug that is costly, time consuming to administer and has unpleasant side effects; it cannot be used in some patient groups. WIA obviates the need for the drug and can be used as the sole diagnostic method in more than half of patients. After being assessed in trials involving >2500 patients, the method became commercially available, and is in routine clinical use in 3 continents. It removes the cost of the drug (which can be US$500 per case in some countries), increases throughput by halving the time taken for the procedure, reduces side effects and makes rigorous diagnosis available to patient groups that cannot tolerate the drug and therefore depended on unreliable, imaging-based methods until now.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

General Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology, Medical Physiology

Commercialisation of Creatine and Carnitine for Sports Nutritional Supplements

Summary of the impact

An international patent emanating from research from Professor Paul Greenhaff's laboratory and owned by the University of Nottingham (UoN) was purchased by MuscleTech Inc. in 2001 (along with provision of £750k research funding), and used to underpin their highly successful creatine based sports supplement, CellTech. The patent has since been used in [text removed for publication] products creating sales worth $[text removed for publication] million (US) since 2010. A further international patent from the same laboratory based on research on carnitine as a sports supplement has to date been accepted in Australia and Canada and used by the Olympic Team GB in 2012. Negotiations between the UoN and a global company regarding the licencing of this technology are at an advanced stage.

Submitting Institution

University of Nottingham

Unit of Assessment

Biological Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Clinical Sciences, Human Movement and Sports Science, Medical Physiology

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