Commercialisation deal
Inventor Anant Ghelani has teamed up with ProspectIP, the technology transfer arm of De Montfort University in Leicester, UK, to commercialise a device for preventing medical staff being injured when breaking open glass vials containing vaccines or other injectable medicines.
Currently most such vials are opened by holding the body of the vial in one hand and breaking off the pre-scored tip with the other hand. Ghelani, a geneticist from Loughborough who worked as a research pharmacologist for 30 years came up with the idea after seeing witnessing many accidents with these vials.
His device holds the vial in a resealable container, which breaks off the top and keeps it in a unique snap-cap until it can be disposed of safely. A guard in the snap-cap prevents slivers of glass dispersing and a moveable base and lid allows the device to hold different sized vials.
Ghelani had worked on the invention for a few years before seeking help from ProspectIP at De Montfort, which is providing support worth almost £30,000 to help in commercialising the device. He is now working with the university’s intellectual property and product design staff to commercialise the device.
ProspectIP, which is funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, part-funds the development of innovations, while allowing the owner to retain intellectual property rights.
Ghelani’s device is expected to be available later this year.
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