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Working on the future of pain treatment

May 25, 2023

Together with SentryX we are working on an innovative solution to apply localized pain treatment after spinal surgery.

Currently, high doses of opioid medications are used for patient pain relief, resulting in negative opioid-related side effects that hinder the patient's recovery and prolong hospital stay. SentryX came up with a solution for this problem: the BR-003; an implantable anesthetic.

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The BR-003 is a strong yet elastic hydrogel ring containing a non-opioid pain-blocker. The ring is co-implanted with the screw that fixates the spinal segments. Once the ring is in place, it delivers the pain-blocker locally. Spark is designing the sterile packaging for the BR-003 that also functions as an applicator to place the ring to the screw.

Several challenges are involved in designing a medical product such as the BR-003. Since patient safety comes first, the packaging should protect the hydrogel ring effectively to safeguard all its properties and sterility. In addition, the applicator must fully support the workflow of the surgical staff to provide reassurance in the sometimes critical and hectic processes in the operating theatre.

Spark’s risk-based approach combined with our innovative design skills are key when developing such a critical product in the medical domain. We are very proud to work with SentryX on the future of pain treatment after major surgery.