fda 510k received, page-33

Jev, I’m also confident that there will be keen interest in Novopore foam wound dressing for treatment of pressure ulcers.

With health systems worldwide under pressure to rein in costs, Novopore’s main attraction will be that it can reduce the overall cost of treatment. Current Negative Pressure Wound Therapy System dressings frequently leave fragments remaining in the wound, resulting in infection and bleeding upon removal of the dressing. The FDA has already raised concerns about these complications. The recently approved Novopore addresses these concerns. Not only will patient outcomes improve if/when Novopore is adopted, but improvements in dressing change frequency and total time spent on dressing change will allow cost savings.

Treatment of pressure ulcers adds significant cost burdens to hospital systems. As mentioned in a company presentation last June,

Pressure ulcers cost $9.1-$11.6 billion per year in the US. Cost of individual patient care ranges from $20,900 to 151,700 per pressure ulcer. Medicare estimated in 2007 that each pressure ulcer added $43,180 in costs to a hospital stay.

Smith and Nephew, a world leader in advanced wound management, estimate that hospitalization accounts for greater than 50%of the cost of wound management, nurse-time 30-35% and the materials used to treat the wound 15-20%. It points out that the potential impact of choice of dressing on patient outcomes, clinical outcomes and overall cost of treatment should not be underestimated.

The resources involved in the apparently simple act of changing dressings should not be under estimated... in the acute setting, dressing-change frequency is a big factor in the deployment of nursing resource. Choice of dressing is therefore a vital consideration, and one that should not be based on the unit cost alone.

Dressings that require fewer changes produce patient benefits, as they reduce trauma; clinical benefits, as the wound is exposed to contaminants less frequently; and economic benefits... even where the materials cost is higher.

I think this is what's typically called a win/win.


http://www.smith-nephew.com/about-us/what-we-do/advanced-wound-management/economic-cost-of-wounds/