The Zephyr: Product Development
Over one million people are hospitalized with pneumonia each year. Five hundred thousand children are hospitalized for lung infections each year. Patients who have other conditions have a mortality rate of 50-70%.(NY TIMES, 4 Oct 2015) Regardless of the initial diagnosis, death by pneumonia is one of the leading causes of death, and is the way most of us will die. As a thoracic and cardiac surgeon, Dr. John Roberts saw death due to pneumonia nearly every day in his practice, and grew tired of the ineffective aspiration catheters he had to use. The current respiratory aspiration catheters cannot get into the left lung due to the sharper bend of the left bronchi, and pneumonia is nearly impossible to clear when you can only get into the right lung. Also, with current technology, the physician can only guess where the catheter is- there is no way of telling which path the catheter has taken. Frustrated, he set out to find someone who could create a catheter that would reliably enter both lungs. So he took his problem to Salient Surgical and their lead engineer designed an elegant solution to his problem- a respiratory suction catheter that would reliably enter both the left and right lungs and provide a second, sterile channel for the administration of antibiotics. The device performed well in bench testing and cadaver studies, but Salient chose not to develop the product any further. Then, Medtronic bought Salient Surgical. Finally, in 2013, Dr. Roberts had waited long enough. He decided to purchase the patent for this product from Medtronic in New Hampshire and start Patient Centered Medical. He chose Janet Bloom of New Hampshire to help with the company, and together with Eran Levitt of GTIMD in Bedford, NH, Maya Bloom of New Hampshire and Timothy Roberts of Tennessee, these five created the final product and have received their patent (issuing October 6, 2015). Two other patents have also issued from this original design. Now, the prototyping stage is done, units are out for evaluation, and the first 1000 units are being produced. We are close to being able to save countless lives. In summary, the original design work was done in New Hampshire, and the subsequent design and development work was also done in New Hampshire. Dr. Roberts and his son Tim participated via Skype on the design work from Tennessee. The prototypes and initial production are underway in Bedford, NH at GTIMD, and initial production will be done there. It is the intent of PC Medical to manufacture all products in New Hampshire.
