INNOVATION PROFILE/Gabriel Scientific:IT'S ALLERGY Awareness Week this week with National Asthma Awareness Day taking place next Tuesday, and award winning Irish company Gabriel Scientific is adding its weight to campaigns by the Irish Asthma Society and others to raise awareness of asthma and other allergic conditions.
Gabriel Scientific won the Innovation of the Year Award at the 2012 Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards for its Sleep Angel pillow, which significantly reduces exposure to allergens for people asleep in bed, as well as lowering the risk of patients contracting hospital-acquired infections (HAI), such as MRSA, from lying on contaminated bedding.
The pillow uses a membrane normally used as a filter in heart stents to keep out bacteria, and is sealed by melting the edges together rather than sewing them.
The idea for the product came from Gabriel co-founder Billy Navan, who has a hospital supplies business.
Conversations with laundry staff in hospitals revealed particular issues with pillows. Part of the problem was that while bed frames, mattresses and wheelchair cushions are classed as medical devices and their design and performance standards have to comply with EU standards from an infection control point of view, pillows were not similarly classified.
Pillows are in effect a mattress or cushion for the head, the part of our anatomy often greatly at risk of admitting infection.
The problem with conventional bedding is the sewn seams on pillows or indeed mattresses and mattress toppers. Anywhere that allows air and liquid-borne bacteria in can harbour infections and cause allergic reactions and everyday bed protection is not an adequate barrier.
The particular problem with a pillow is it has to be capable of breathing in and out if it is to be comfortable and serve its purpose. Simply sealing it to prevent bacteria and allergens getting in is therefore not the solution.
Navan and co-founder David Woolfson identified a specialised micro-porous membrane laminate used as a purifying filter in heart stents. Working with bio- mechanical engineer Dr Duncan Bain, they adapted the laminate and applied it to pillows.
Independent laboratory testing and clinical trials demonstrated they had achieved their goal of producing a hermetically sealed product that was a highly effective barrier to bug and bacterial ingress yet breathable and comfortable.
This application of innovative medical device standards to pillows is a first of its kind – a proven barrier pillow that is a registered medical device. The technology has now been applied to mattresses, wheelchair cushions and similar products.
“Your pillow should be a source of comfort and support; after all you spend long and intimate hours sleeping on it,” says Gabriel Scientific’s consumer healthcare spokesperson Conor Stapleton.
“However, sometimes our pillow makes a poor bedfellow, attracting the dust mites, enzymes, allergens and bacteria that exist in the atmosphere and in our bodies.
“Our PneumaPure Filter technology is clinically proven to block the contaminants that trigger asthma, allergy and sinus conditions. It is the first pillow in the world to feature a pore size of 0.2 microns, which is small enough to block hospital ‘super bugs’ and more effective than standard asthma and allergy barrier bedding.”
While the initial motivation and inspiration for the Sleep Angel came from the healthcare sector the company believes its primary application will be in the home.
“It is not generally known but one eighth of Irish people suffer from asthma – that’s half a million people,” Stapleton points out.
“Asthma triggers such as dust mites, allergens and fungal spores are most prevalent at night and in the bedroom. These triggers not only cause discomfort but impact quality of sleep and reduce energy and activity levels the day after.
“The Sleep Angel pillow blocks the allergens before they have a chance to trigger asthma.”
Customer feedback has been very positive.
“The Sleep Angel pillow has been available in Shaw’s and Harvey Norman for some time and is now on sale in the Sam McAuley pharmacy chain as well,” says Stapleton. “And asthma sufferers have reported very positive experiences in terms of reduced night wheezing following the purchase of the product.
“This is in line with the advice of medical practitioners, which is increasingly to improve the preventative regimes at night time rather than focusing solely on the short term benefit of medication, which primarily deals with the symptoms rather than the cause of asthma.”
There is also a cost advantage. “An asthma sufferer can spend up to €145 a month on treatment, while a Sleep Angel pillow can bring real relief for just €65. We have a TV and press advertising campaign starting in May with the aim of getting this message across.”
Navan pays tribute to the role of the Health Service Executive and the Irish healthcare system in the development of the PneumaPure Filter technology.
Stapleton says this support has been instrumental in the product’s international success as well. “The product is now in use in hospitals in Ireland and the UK, Scandinavia, Benelux and Austria as well as being available through retailers in Britain and Ireland.”
