PFE Medical has won the Science, Technology, and Innovation Award at the 2023 Staffordshire Chambers Business Awards for its Khamsin automated endoscope cleaner, developed with Aston University through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership.
The award recognised the long-term potential and ‘revolutionary’ nature of the Khamsin. Aston University and PFE Medical‘s sister company, Partnership Medical (PML), developed the system through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) – a three-way collaboration between a business, an academic partner, and a highly qualified researcher, known as a KTP associate.
Due to the sensitivity of the materials and electronics used in endoscope manufacture, the devices cannot be properly sterilised, creating the potential for cross-infection when used between patients. PFE Medical explained that the automated prototype and new cleaning materials developed through the KTP ‘produced astonishing results in clinical trials’, with a simple five-minute treatment ‘offering deep cleaning levels 1,000 times better than anticipated’. It said: “These hygiene levels are far superior to those possible using conventional manual procedures, thus reducing the contamination risk to patients, and lowering mortality rates. A reduced need for manual cleaning results in less plastic waste, meaning the Khamsin is also more eco-friendly.” Following successful clinical trials, the Khamsin has now been rolled out at Good Hope Hospital in Birmingham.
PFE Medical says the Khamsin is the only automated scope cleaner currently on the market which eliminates human error, adding: “The whole decontamination process is fully validated, and environmentally friendly. Multiple successful tests have been completed on numerous bacteria and fungi, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia Coli.”
The Aston University team who worked on the KTP included Dr Andy Sutherland and Dr Tony Worthington from the Aston Institute of Materials Research, and KTP associate, Dr Thien Duong, an expert in synthetic chemistry and chemical engineering.
The 2023 Staffordshire Chambers Business Awards were presented at a ceremony at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Stoke-on-Trent. Presenting the trophy, Rhys Newport, Finance director at Lesters Group, sponsor of the Science, Technology and Innovation Award, noted the ‘revolutionary and groundbreaking’ product, and its potential for long-term growth, as well as the ‘exceptional customer service’ offered by the company.
PFE Medical director, Rob Hartley, said: “The Khamsin has been incredibly well received by all the key opinion-leaders in the endoscopy field. It has long been acknowledged that endoscopes are incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to clean routinely and reliably. The Khamsin has changed all that, and will have significant benefits for patients worldwide. The development work undertaken by the colleagues from Aston University was absolutely fundamental in solving this huge dilemma. The Knowledge Transfer Partnership was the perfect vehicle for the balance between PFE Medical understanding the requirements for the system and the expertise at Aston finding the solution.”
Founded in 1895, and a university since 1966, Aston is a long-established university led by its three main beneficiary groups – students, business, and the professions, and the West Midlands region and wider society. Located in Birmingham, the campus houses all the University’s academic, social, and accommodation facilities, for students.
