Mayo Clinic partners with Ireland to fund medical research
Apr 11, 2014, 5:00 AM | Updated: 5:00 am
An Arizona doctor is working on rolling out a new medical device with the help of a partnership between the Mayo Clinic and Ireland’s enterprise development arm.
Dr. Vijay Singh is a gastroenterologist with the Mayo Clinic and the inventor of a new medical device aimed at treating acute pancreatitis.
He said the device helps cool the stomach, which is located next to the pancreas, and can help reduce inflammation.
Now with the help of Enterprise Ireland, Singh said the project is moving into the next phase of testing.
“To move a thing from the bench to the bedside (in the United States) can be a fairly challenging task,” he said. “Just because of the logistics and resources, (it) cannot reach the bedside.”
He said the partnership could be a road map for future testing of medical products because it is providing an alternative source of funding while it difficult to obtain research funding in the U.S.
“The benefit as I see is there is a hope of taking similar technologies from the bench to the bedside, make it more relevant to our patients, help them more,” he said.
“I can generate an idea, the concept, show in proof or principle that this makes sense, show it’s feasibility … but that where my resources and my skill stops.”
Enterprise Ireland has agreed to give $16 million to the partnership and further development of Singh’s device is already underway at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
