Ambicare News

Ambulight PDT Design Team Wins Prestigious Plastics Design Award

Ambicare's Ambulight PDT, the world's first non-melanoma skin cancer treatment using a small disposable light emitting sticking plaster worn by the patient, last night (2 October 2009) won the Industrial Product Design Award at the ninth annual Plastics Industry Awards held at the London Hilton, Park Lane.

Kinneir Dufort, product designers of the Ambulight PDT, collected the accolade from guest presenter, TV and radio personality, Paul Ross in front of a record crowd of over 500 plastics professionals and guests at the event's gala dinner.

Ambicare, developer of the device, recently received CE Mark approval to market the Ambulight PDT, its lead product, in Europe. The company is now in advanced discussions with potential distributors to sell the device.

The Ambulight PDT beat three other finalists to win the coveted award sponsored by Distrupol, and impressed the judges in all areas of materials selection, design for manufacture, design for sustainability and fitness for purpose.

The Plastics Industry Awards recognises the industry's most innovative companies and initiatives in the UK and celebrates these achievements. The awards offer an insight into current developments in materials usage, product design and innovative manufacturing. Entries came from all sectors of the industry, highlighting a wide range of novel solutions.

Ian Muirhead, Chief Executive Officer of Ambicare Health, commented: "This award is a great achievement for both Kinneir Dufort and Ambicare Health as it recognises the device's leadership as a technically advanced and innovative product in front of our peers.

"The Ambulight PDT offers healthcare providers the opportunity to transform patient care by making PDT more accessible and enabling patients to continue with their normal daily routine when undergoing PDT treatment for non-melanoma skin cancer."

For a full list of The Plastics Industry Awards winners, visit www.plasticsawards.com.

 

For further information, contact:

Buchanan Communications
Diane Stewart 0131 226 6150
dianes@buchanan.uk.com
Carrie Clement 0131 226 4427
carriec@buchanan.uk.com

Or visit http://www.ambicarehealth.com

 

Notes to Editors:
Management Team

Ambicare was founded by Professor James Ferguson, who is Consultant Dermatologist and Head of the University Department of Dermatology in Dundee and Professor Ifor Samuel who leads the Organic Semiconductor Centre at the University of St Andrews. Both remain on the Board of Directors. Dr Ian Muirhead, Chief Executive Officer joined Ambicare in January 2008 and has extensive experience in developing early stage companies and taking products through to commercialistion. Dr Andrew McNeill, Director and Principal Scientist has been instrumental to the product's development since its concept. The Board is chaired by David Lawrence, who has extensive healthcare experience with listed companies. His previous roles included CFO of Acambis PLC, a LSE and Nasdaq listed company.

Ambulight PDT Technology

The Ambulight PDT is a light source intended for use in topical Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) of non melanoma skin cancers. It emits light with a peak wavelength of 640nm and a full width half maximum (FWHM) of 20nm. The irradiance of light emitted from the Ambulight PDT is 7mW/cm2. It delivers a total light dose of 75 J/cm2 to the treatment site and is designed to be used in conjunction with a pharmaceutical cream. Two devices are needed to complete a treatment course, with each treatment lasting 6 hours. The two treatments are one month apart. Ambicare's technology is IP protected and we have six patents either granted or pending.

Target Market

Cancer affects a large and growing proportion of the world's population driven by an aging demographic and insufficient protection from sun exposure. The incidence of non-malignant skin cancer continues to grow rapidly and now affects 15% of the UK, 40% of the USA, and 75% of the Australian populations during their lifetimes. Ambulight PDT has a current potential target market in excess of £640m. The number of skin cancer lesions requiring treatment is doubling every ten years, as individuals in affluent western societies live longer and are affected by the consequences of excessive sun exposure. By 2015, this would give Ambicare a total addressable market approaching £1 billion.

Route to Market

Manufacturing of Ambulight PDT will be subcontracted and the product will be sold through distributors and OEM partners. Discussions are currently ongoing with a number of interested parties.



3rd October 2009