Read the article that inspired this case study on the Innovate4Health website.
Who
Claudio Bruno Castillano Levano and the Group of Research and Development of Medical Equipment and Systems (GIDEMS) team
Challenge
Millions of high-risk babies die annually within their first week of life. In fact, last year 2.5 million vulnerable newborns died within their first month – about one million during their first day and close to one million within the next six days. However, much of this burden can be prevented with simple interventions – such as keeping the newborn warm, ensuring careful hygiene and regulating oxygen levels and breathing. Yet traditional incubators are large, expensive, immobile and reliant on an ongoing power supply – which can be a challenge to access and maintain in developing nations.
Solution
Incuven is a “neonatal artificial bubble” appropriate for even the most challenging health care environments.
Over a 20-year research and development journey, Levano and his team have delivered an innovative new device that improves the status quo and gives options to markets that previously had none.
How It Works
Incuven is a battery-powered, easy-to-move and simple-to-operate incubator with a respirator that stabilizes temperature, reduces fan noise, and significantly reduces the risk of contamination. In less than two seconds, the bubble envelops a newborn in a warm, oxygen-enriched and sterile environment, giving vulnerable preterm babies at risk of hypothermia, hypoxia, infection and/or sepsis a chance at survival.
The incubator is designed to be used in hospitals or other health care facilities without neonatal specialists or intensive-care units, so it has the potential to make a positive impact in its native country Peru and across much of the world.
Over a 20-year research and development journey, Levano and his team have delivered an innovative, new device that improves upon what is available and gives options to markets that previously had none. Incuven is protected by several patents, which have preserved the investment to date as GIDEMS looks to commercialize the product and help more at-risk infants around the world.
Incuven not only gives hope for the challenge of addressing high-risk infant mortality, it underscores the potential for life-changing innovation in Peru – and throughout Latin America – when intellectual property is properly supported and protected.
