Doctor’s patented tube grip saves money and could save lives

Braidlock - Dr Marc Spinoza: a CIPA case study

Like TV remote controls, Velcro and Post-it Notes, Dr Marc Spinoza’s invention is one of those ingenious ideas that can improve a routine action that people do many times a day. In his case, it’s a better way of securing all those tubes that take fluids in and out of hospital patients.

Ever since doctors started putting drips and drains into people, they have reached for the suture kit to fix them in place, using knots you’d associate more with sailors and Boy Scouts than with modern medicine, then finishing their handiwork off with strips of sticking plaster or adhesive tape. It’s slow and cumbersome and, if the line needs to be reviewed, repositioned or removed, the whole process has to be done again, which costs time and money and increases the risk of infection.

Slides in, stays in

Marc Spinoza’s invention, the Braidlock is a short, braided sleeve that the tube (or ‘line’) goes through. The Braidlock is attached to the patient by two small sutures or by an integral adhesive patch. It acts in a similar way to a ratchet: it’s easy to push the tube through the device into the patient, but very hard indeed for it to be pulled back out unintentionally. If the line needs to be adjusted, the doctor or nurse simply squeezes the Braidlock lightly and the tube can be moved easily, without having to remove or redo sutures or sticking plaster.

It was Marc Spinoza’s hobby of angling that first gave him the inspiration for the Braidlock. “It was a Zen moment,” he says. “I was standing on the riverbank when the thought came to me that you can catch a 3kg trout and reel it in without breaking or tangling your fishing line, year after year, so it should be possible to use similar designs and materials to keep a tube in place in premature baby. The way anglers use braiding to keep their lines tangle-free started me thinking about how to save time and money, and make life safer and easier for patients.” Marc Spinoza’s thinking included finding inspiration in a children’s toy: the Chinese finger trap – a braided tube that allows a child to push a finger into it only to discover that no amount of tugging will get the finger out.

Protecting his invention

“I knew enough about intellectual property rights to appreciate that I needed to patent my invention. I soon found out that the best way to make sure I had a patent that was good enough to protect the device in major markets around the world was to find a patent attorney who had the experience and common sense to cut through the obstacles. That turned out to be one of the best decisions I made. There have been times when trying to raise the finance needed to bring this product to the market that I’ve felt my patent attorneys to be the only people looking after my interests.”

The patent attorneys concerned are Ilya Kazi and Caroline Warren, of the London-based firm Mathys & Squire. “When we first got involved with Marc Spinoza,” recalls Ilya Kazi, a partner in the firm, “he had just emerged from a collaboration with a larger organisation which had not delivered as hoped. He then went through a serious of further battles to progress commercialisation and get funding. We often come across situations like this but Marc’s enthusiasm and determination were invaluable in helping us apply our experience to tackling these cheerfully.”

Marc Spinoza remortgaged his house and incorporated a company to raise the money he needed to develop his invention, get it patented and approved for use in hospitals and find a way of distributing it. “Yes, I would do it again, but it’s been a hard journey with obstacles I couldn’t even have imagined when I started out,” he says.

Enthusiastic support from doctors

Convincing other doctors of the advantages of using the SULL has not been the hardest part.  Trials have been carried out at Great Ormond Street, the Hillingdon Hospital, Addenbrookes and and is soon to start with more hospitals, nationally. Around 90 per cent of the healthcare practitioners who have tried the device say they want to continue using it.  Professor Martin Elliot and Professor Monty Mythen both hailed the device as simple, effective, safe and likely to save the NHS millions of pounds.

“Getting doctors to recognise the SULL’s advantages was one thing,” says Marc Spinoza.  “Persuading medical line manufacturers to adopt it has proved much more of a challenge.”   With an estimated market of 60 million lines a year in the UK alone, even a small reduction in the waste resulting from lines that have to be replaced would save the NHS millions of pounds. But getting the manufacturers to agree to add a new element to their line kits – which means they have to charge more – is a slow process.  “Supplying line kits with the SULL already in place will save hospitals time and money, as well as reducing the risk of infection for the patients,” Marc explains.  “However, different budgets and different departments are involved and it’s taking longer than I expected to get hospitals to adopt a new practice.”

Fortunately, because it is a Class 1 device, the approval process for the SULL is much less onerous than it would be for implanted devices (such as stents or pacemakers) and for pharmaceuticals.  Both the European CE mark and American FDA approval are expected during 2008.

IP strategy

The normal life of a patent is 20 years. When you consider how long it can take to get approval for a medical device and to persuade a leviathan organisation like the NHS change its practices, that doesn’t look like such a long time. “It’s not a matter of getting one patent then forgetting about it,” explains Ilya Kazi. “If you want your product to do the best possible job, you have to keep innovating and keep your intellectual property under constant review. Marc Spinoza’s invention has been improved several times and we’ve helped him apply for two additional patents. We’ve also helped him to register the name Braidlock as a trade mark, which further reduces the risk of someone trying to make cheap imitations and pass them off as the real thing.”

Marc Spinoza has also thought of new applications for the same principle. He has designed and applied to patent a bigger version of the braided tubing that fits over a child’s arms and to which swimming floats can be attached. “We use swimming for physiotherapy for children at Great Ormond Street,” says Marc. “I noticed that most of the floatation aids were not very secure or reliable. The ‘grip’ I have invented goes on to a child’s arms very easily and there is no risk at all that it will come off accidentally.”

Fully-fledged business

With a wife and three children, as well as a full-time job as a paediatrician, Marc Spinoza realised that he needed to set up a company and bring in other people and external finance to make the business a success. SULL Ltd now has 20 private shareholders and a board of directors. Manufacturing is contracted out to a specialist firm, BIW in Gloucestershire and distribution is handled by a specialist medical equipment distribution company, H&H. Marc now concentrates on developing and improving the product, relying on his patent attorneys to make sure that his inventions are protected around the world. “Marc is a great ideas man,” says Ilya Kazi. “We provide him with practical, commercial advice and support and help smooth the way for raising new finance or negotiating distribution contracts. It’s inspiring to work with someone who’s so motivated to help other people – especially children.”

Written by Peter Prowse for the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys.

For more information, contact:
Peter Prowse, CIPA:  01372 271234
Chris MacNeil, SULL Ltd Tel: 07966 380 131, email: ,
Dr Marc Spinoza, SULL Ltd Tel: 07940 120416 
Ilya Kazi, Mathys & Squire  Tel 020 7830 0000