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Health, News, Technology

Uncovering healthcare cons

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Supported by new funding available from 1 July 2014, the program will operate three streams to explore and compare huge datasets available in the healthcare sector. The goal is to make improvements to the detection and management of fraud, consumer choice and data management.

The CMCRC is adapting one of its existing analytical solutions, I+Plus, to analyse and cross-reference the many disparate sources of information available in healthcare. It’s hoped this tool could prove useful for healthcare providers to compare their performance with competitors by using industry benchmarks once they are developed.

The CMCRC hopes to have the first results of its new research initiative into healthcare by the end of this year, said Chief Operating and Commercial Officer, David Jonas.

Jonas, who is also CEO of the organisation’s health insurance spin-off company, CMC Insurance Solutions, said the new research program is a natural extension of the group’s work into health insurance.

“It’s broadened out in the past two years to the whole of health,” he explained.

Although it’s a foray out of capital markets for the CRC, success in identifying fraud in the health insurance market, along with a raft of other achievements, led the centre to investigate the detection of similar inefficiencies in the provision of health in general.

The CMCRC will receive $32 million in funding through round 16 of the Australian Government’s CRC Program. About 40% of that will be going into the new health market quality program.

Industry partners already signed up by the CRC include 29 private health insurers, the National Health Performance Authority, NSW Health, and the Victorian Government’s WorkSafe and TAC (Transport Accident Commission) compensation schemes.

“We don’t yet have a public health insurer as an industry partner, but we are gradually engaging with Medicare and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs,” Jonas said.

The new program’s first initiatives will identify the metrics required for assessing market integrity and efficiency. The research will then look at what data needs to be gathered to generate those metrics and how such benchmarks can be used to find solutions.

The centre is already engaging in a range of small start-up projects with all of its industry partners. Jonas pointed out that one of the main difficulties with the healthcare industry is the fragmentation of data, with diagnosis and treatment records for patients being distributed across multiple healthcare providers and funders.

But if healthcare is looked at as a market, rather than a system, it could be easier to identify inefficiencies and then achieve efficiencies.

“Part of our program is to assure market quality in healthcare for providers and users,” Jonas said.

– Penny Pryor

www.cmcrc.com

Health, Innovation, Society

Virtual dentistry for remote Australia

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The trials, which explored the application of ‘teledentistry’, were developed by the Oral Health CRC, the University of Melbourne’s Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society and dental specialists at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital. They are supported by Google.

The project’s research leader, Associate Professor Rodrigo Marino, said the system could help improve dental health for Aboriginal children in remote communities. A pilot program is also exploring the use of teledentistry to provide dental services and oral healthcare treatment plans for elderly patients in nursing homes.

Pneumonia linked to oral infections is a major cause of hospitalisation among older people, and can be fatal. “Residents in nursing homes often don’t have access to dental services,” Marino said. “But with teledentistry, a consultation could be done by the nurses, with minimal disruption or discomfort for elderly patients.”

The CRC’s teledentistry trials involved consultations with 43 children in Geelong, Shepparton and Rosebud in Victoria. Three dentists in these regional towns were trained to use intraoral dental cameras to enable Royal Children’s Hospital orthodontists and palate specialists to conduct virtual examinations via real-time video.

No special software or equipment needed to be developed for the trials. CRC researchers used a computer equipped with sufficient memory to handle real-time video processing, a web camera for video conferencing and an intraoral camera about the size and shape of an electric toothbrush. They found that video streaming at a minimum of 3 Mb/s and internet bandwidth of 5 Mb/s provided good quality images for the dental specialists to analyse.

“We could see images in real time on the screen during the consultations, and the remote area dentists and the specialists in Melbourne could collaborate to work out a treatment plan for each patient,” said Marino.

Of the trial consultations, 57% resulted in treatment advice that meant patients could avoid a time-consuming trip to Melbourne. Marino said teledentistry will eliminate the time and expense incurred by rural patients, who often face a long, exhausting drive with no guarantee of an immediate and direct benefit.

He said the promising results show teledentistry could play a vital role in providing affordable and timely dental healthcare for urban Australia as well as rural and remote populations.

“It can increase access to specialist care and it can screen patients to make sure that only those who need to see a specialist will be put on waiting lists,” Marino explained. “So, it also has the potential to reduce the waiting time for treatment.”

– Rosslyn Beeby

www.oralhealthcrc.org.au

Health, Highlight, Innovation, News, Society

Alzheimer’s Disease drug discovery gives hope

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Scientists from the University of South Australia, along with colleagues from Third Military Medical University in Chongqing, China, have discovered the drug Edaravone can alleviate the progressive cognitive deficits of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Edaravone is used to aid neurological recovery following acute brain ischemia and subsequent cerebral infarction, but is currently available only in some Asian countries.

Lead researcher Professor Xin-Fu Zhou, who is Research Chair in Neurosciences at the University of South Australia, said Edaravone alleviated Alzheimer’s Disease pathologies at multiple levels and improved learning and memory functions in mice.

“Edaravone can bind the toxic amyloid peptide which is a major factor leading to degeneration of nerve cells,” Prof Zhou said.

Prof Zhou said lessons learned from failures of current clinical trials suggest that targeting multiple key pathways of the Alzheimer’s Disease pathogenesis is necessary to halt and delay the disease progression.

“Edaravone can suppress the toxic functions of amyloid beta to nerve cells – it is a free radical scavenger which suppresses oxidative stress that is a main cause of brain degeneration,” he said.

“The drug can suppress the production of amyloid beta by inhibiting the amyloid beta production enzyme. It also inhibits the Tau hyperphosphorylation which can generate tangles accumulated in the brain cells and disrupt brain functions.”

Prof Zhou said that although he didn’t believe Alzheimer’s Disease could ever be cured, the drug was the best hope of attacking the debilitating disease through multiple signal pathways.

The research is a collaboration between Prof Zhou’s lab within the University of South Australia’s Sansom Institute for Health Research and School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, and labs led by Prof Yanjiang Wang in Chongqing, China.

The next phase is to seek funding and investment to develop an oral formulae before undertaking clinical trials.

The discovery was published yesterday (7 April) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Innovation, News, Technology

First tech-commercialisation skills study funded

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The year-long study will be run by Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia (KCA) – the peak body for Australian organisations and individuals in knowledge commercialisation and exchange between public sector research organisations, business and government – and gemaker – a company specialising in commercialising technology.

The key objective of this study is to provide a clear understanding of what it really takes to get new ideas generated by Australian publicly funded research organisations into society and the marketplace.

To kick start the project and help consolidate the study’s framework, a series of workshops will be hosted across five states between April and June. Technology transfer practitioners and industry stakeholders will be invited to participate in these workshops, offering both individuals and institutions an exclusive opportunity to help shape the future direction of professional development within the sector in this country, and provide foresight as to the true nature of the skill set required to effectively undertake this role going forwards.

 “There is an increasing expectation from government entities within Australia for publicly funded research organisations to improve on the conversion of research into commercial outcomes. Much like the theme of our forthcoming conference – Raising the Bar – this study will enable us as a community of practitioners to look strategically at what it means to be a commercialisation professional at a research organisation in Australia, and how we might look to improve upon how we go about our practice. We are thrilled to be awarded the Professional Standards Research Grant,” KCA Executive Officer Melissa Geue said.

KCA applied for the research grant in partnership with technology commercialisation consultancy gemaker (associate member of KCA) in late November 2014. The project team is being led by gemaker’s Commercialisation Director Athena Prib, RTTP and will be comprised of gemaker’s team of specialists in capability development and workplace competencies, as well as KCA’s Executive Officer, Melissa Geue and Vice Chair and Professional Development Leader, Dr Alastair Hick (also Director of Commercialisation at Monash University).

“We are excited to be leading the first project of its kind that will open the door for the research and commercialisation sector to connect and self reflect, and we hope this study offers a baseline for our association, KCA, to build on for years to come,” said Natalie Chapman, gemaker’s Managing Director.

Overall the study will provide insight into the different technology transfer models used across Australia and the mechanism used to equip people with knowledge of skills required by industry and research. The primary goal is to look at the skills and competencies required on both the research and business side, to undertake a skills gap analysis, and to begin to assemble a framework for professional development across the Australian research commercialisation sector.

“Knowledge exchange and commercialisation is an important area of innovation for Australia and building standards and professionalisation options for the industry is an opportunity to cement Australia’s leadership,” said Dr Deen Sanders, PSC Chief Executive Officer.

“Our role is to encourage professional standards and consumer protection and so we are pleased to support the research and commercialisation sector in taking a serious and strategic approach to building a profession in this area.”

Innovation, News, Society, World

IP fund boosts commercialisation

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The unique Intellectual Property Management Initiative offers grants to initiate patent protection of inventions stemming from biological research at South Australia’s three main universities – The University of Adelaide, Flinders University and University of South Australia.

Dr Stefan Enderling, the business development manager at Bio Innovation SA, said the initiative is funded by the Government of South Australia and managed by Bio Innovation SA to help pay for the first stages of the patenting process.

“This provides the institution with a dated ‘peg in the ground’ relating to their intellectual property, and gives them an asset with which to undertake economic development,” he said.

A patent is a right granted for a device, substance, method or process that is new, inventive and useful when compared with what is already known. It gives researchers an exclusive right to commercially exploit an invention.

In Australia, patents are administered through IP Australia and the first step in the process is applying for a Provisional Patent.

The 2011 commencement of the Intellectual Property Management Initiative is linked to a 90% increase in the filing of provisional patents from South Australia’s universities.

“It’s been a very successful program,” said Dr Enderling. “The filing of provisional patents increased from 57 during the 2008–2011 period, to 109 in the years 2012–2014.”

The rapid impact of the initiative illustrates the highly targeted nature of budgets within research environments.

Costs of provisional patents are usually in the range of AUD$4000 to $7000, but can be as high as AUD$10,000 for more complex technologies. Further patenting and searching across international databases attracts additional costs. Typically, institutions do not have funds set aside to cover these expenses.

“Universities have scarce resources that have to be diverted towards specific purposes,” said Dr Enderling. “In the past, this meant that patenting was often pushed to the side.”

Biological sciences patent attorney Mark O’Donnell said the Intellectual Property Management Initiative has nudged more South Australian researchers towards protecting their ideas.

“In the scheme of the cost of the research, four to seven thousand dollars doesn’t sound like that much,” he said. “But it’s a big expense for a university to take on, so having this fund is a fantastic thing for them.”

“Previously – because of the lack of funding – provisional patents just weren’t being filed, so research never had that chance of being commercialised.”

“I have not heard of any other comparable programs across Australia,” said O’Donnell, a partner at patent and trade mark attorney firm Madderns in Adelaide, South Australia.

The Intellectual Property Management Initiative has provided support for 78 projects since 2011 at the University of South Australia. The university’s technology commercialisation company ITEK Ventures Pty Ltd has filed 67 new patent applications in that period.

One of ITEK’s projects to benefit from the initiative is the Hand Held Cancer Probe, an ultrasensitive magnetic probe which detects small amounts of clinically introduced magnetic material in lymph nodes. The probe offers a non-radioactive approach for mapping the spread of cancers.

“The Intellectual Property Management Initiative covered the costs of filing the provisional patent, the International Type Search Report and the PCT application associated with this technology,” said Dr JC Tan, Commercial Manager at ITEK Ventures Pty Ltd.

The PCT application provides the university with patent protection in 148 countries, and expands the time frame for investigating market potential.

“Although the Hand Held Cancer Probe project has not yet been licensed, we are currently talking with Australian and international industry about this technology,” said Tan.

This story first appeared in The Lead, South Australia: bit.ly/1INzUFy

Innovation, News, Society

JCU develops new standard for life jackets

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surf2Researchers led by Wade Sinclair from JCU’s department of Sport and Exercise Science were given a clear brief – the vests must return an unconscious swimmer to the surface and not inhibit lifesaver tasks such as diving and swimming.

The testing found that full-sized lifejackets compliant with Standards Australia’s rigorous Level 50 standard were unusable in heavy surf. Their buoyancy and impact levels from waves were too high, making their use by lifesavers exhausting.

The JCU team tested low buoyancy devices and found they could be used more comfortably in the surf, but still reliably return a swimmer to the surface.

With no Australian Standard in place for low buoyancy devices, the JCU team conducted research, trials and analysis around Australia and then wrote a report for the SLSA and Standards Australia.

The low-buoyancy, high performance vests are designated as Standards Australia Level 25 – suitable for users such as wakeboarders and surfers who need to remain agile but also face the risk of becoming disabled in the water.

Manufacturers have used the new standard to produce ten prototype life vests. JCU is now testing them in different conditions around the country.

Anthony Bradstreet from SLSA said the organisation’s board will receive the final report on the JCU trials in May. “We need to be sensible and take a risk-based approach,” he said. “I don’t think it is going to be necessary for competitors to wear these vests in flat conditions, but their potential use in rougher conditions will still be a fairly large cultural shift.”

Mr Bradstreet said SLSA wanted JCU to produce a specification, rather than choose a specific product, as that approach would ensure multiple suppliers and encourage ongoing innovation.

He said JCU won the contract to do the testing over bigger organisations for a number of reasons. “We were aware of Wade Sinclair’s work in surf sports and he had gathered a group of very keen and eager research assistants around him. There is a lot of respect for JCU’s Sport and Exercise Science department,” he said.

*SLSA has more than 160,000 members

*About 60,000 are ‘nippers’ – children aged 5 to 13-years-old.

*The vests are expected to cost between $150 – $200

Innovation, News, World

Science’s $145 billion value

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A report released today has found that advanced physical and mathematical sciences make a direct contribution to the Australian economy of around $145 billion a year, or about 11% of GDP.

When the flow-on impacts of these sciences are included, the economic benefit expands to about $292 billion a year, or 22% of the nation’s economic activity.

Prof.Ian_ChubbThe report was commissioned by the Office of the Chief Scientist and the Australian Academy of Science and produced by the Centre for International Economics (CIE).

“For the first time we now have the numbers on the table showing the importance of these sciences to the Australian economy,” Australia’s Chief Scientist Professor Chubb said.

“It is too easy to take the benefits of science and innovation for granted, and this report shows that the knowledge from these disciplines supports and enhances economic activity which benefits all Australians.”

Australian Academy of Science President Professor Andrew Holmes said the report was a significant step in improving public awareness of the economic contributions of Australian science.

“The detailed report carefully maps out the pathways by which advanced physical and mathematical sciences yield economic results,” Professor Holmes said.

The figures in the report are conservative and only include the economic benefits of discoveries and innovations implemented in the past 20 years in physics, chemistry, earth sciences and the mathematical sciences.

The report includes examples of how these sciences benefit the economy, such as advanced mathematics supporting the effectiveness of mobile phones and wireless internet, and sets out a selection of breakthroughs that have had an economic impact.

The report, titled The importance of advanced physical and mathematical sciences to the Australian economy, did not examine the economic benefits of biology and life sciences. The economic impact of these sciences could be assessed in further studies.

A copy of the report can be found at chiefscientist.gov.au and science.org.au/science‑impacts‑economy.