MEDICAL CONSERVATION DEVICES, LLC.

Executive Summary:

Almost 20 million patients underwent surgery in the US in 2004 with sixty-five percent receiving inhalation/volatile anesthesia.  The same clinical need and agents are also available in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), yet close to zero use of inhalational/volatile anesthetics occurs today.  Historically, the limiting factor has been an effective drug delivery device, which lowers the cost of delivering anesthetics within the unique setting of the ICU.  Medical Conservation Devices’ core invention is the automation of ‘fresh gas’ and anesthetic drug to the patient, facilitating easier deployment and reduced staffing levels.  In addition, this disposable medical device enables a broader patient pool to gain access to the clinical benefits of anesthetics already established in the operating room. 

Worldwide mechanically ventilated patients (Yr 2010)	3 million
Renal/Hepatic Compromised	24% of MV patients
Acute Lung Injury/ARDS	15% of MV patients
Cardiac/Cerebral Ischemia	13% of MV patients
Ventilation > 5 days	25% of MV patients
Surgical Patients	370,000+
Narcotic abusers	4% of MV patients
Total Projected Penetration	2 to 2.8 million

To deliver inhalational anesthetics in the ICU today, one would require the use of a $50-75,000 anesthesia machine and a highly skilled and paid anesthesiologist available 24x7x365.  Alternatively, one could use a $35,000 ventilator and spend several thousand dollars per day in drug costs.  Dr. Bradley Fuhrman, Chief of Intensive Care at Buffalo’s Women and Children’s Hospital, and co-inventor Mark Dowhy, have developed a disposable medical device to automate the delivery of anesthetics and conserve 90% of the amount of anesthetic drug. 

Several clinical benefits are enabled by low cost anesthetic delivery, representing significant portions of annual ICU patients (shown in the table above):

• Protection of ischematic injury – prevalent with organ failure in the ICU
• Non-reliance on the liver or kidney of drug clearance
• Potential anti-inflammatory benefit in the lung.
• Lower drug utilization enabling shorter time in the ICU.

A team of experienced medical device professionals are assisting Dr. Fuhrman and Dowhy, including executives from Abbott Labs and Baxter Intl, the two largest anesthesia disposable companies in the world.  Initial prototype devices have been built and validated in laboratory experiments.