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Every year over 1.5 million patients in the UK and 250 million worldwide undergo needle-based procedures, such as regional anaesthesia and cancer biopsy. The problems of poor visibility and deflection of the needle tip are still major concerns for clinicians at both trainee and consultant levels. These, besides increasing the overall duration of the procedures, lead to numerous complications, such as nerve damage, internal bleeding and repeat biopsy, costing more than $1 billion annually.
Muhammad Sadiq, with a background in engineering, has developed an innovative medical device “Active Needle” technology that allows the clinicians to see the standard medical needles in colour during ultrasound-guided procedures. He believes that this technology can revolutionise the health care system by providing safer, efficient and cost-effective needle-based procedures benefiting patients, clinicians and healthcare providers.
A collaborative agreement between the University of Dundee and the NHS provides research students with an exciting opportunity to work with the clinicians based in the Ninewells Hospital & Medical School. Muhammad’s idea is a result of such collaboration between the School of Engineering, Physics and Mathematics and the Department of Anaesthesia. Having been approached by a consultant anaesthetist regarding the problems of poor visibility and needle deflection, Muhammad, supervised by Professor Sandy Cochran and Dr. Zhihong Huang, explored the potential of ultrasound in needle-based applications and has been leading the project ever since. Having considered a number of designs and various iterations, the team filed a patent to secure the current design, which meets the requirements of the end-users.
Asked what made him enter Converge Challenge in 2014, Muhammad says: “The competition offered the opportunity to commercialise the active needle technology through market research, enterprise training and the development of a viable business plan for my spin-out “ActiveNeedle”.” Muhammad was chosen as one of the final 6 by the external judging panel and battled it out in the ‘Dragons’ Den’-style final which saw him awarded the 2nd prize of £10,000 cash and £12,500 worth of in-kind business support.
After the awards ceremony, he said: “I am extremely honoured and delighted to have been involved with the Converge Challenge award. This has been a fantastic journey for me from both personal development and ActiveNeedle’s perspectives. Being an engineer with no background in business, it was a real challenge preparing business plans and conducting market research, but I’d like to thank Converge Challenge for providing me with the intensive training covering all the aspects of business planning. The 2nd prize at one of the UK’s premier business competitions is undoubtedly a major success on my career pathway as an entrepreneur.”
Muhammad is currently on the RSE Enterprise Fellowship scheme and in the process of spinning out his company from the University of Dundee. The in-kind support provided by the Converge Challenge is playing an important role for him at this stage. He is working very closely with Mortonward to establish his brand and is receiving accountancy and legal support from Baker Tilly and Morton Fraser respectively. The cash prize of £10,000 is going to be used as match funding for the Sottish Enterprise SMART award to help further develop the technology and conduct feasibility studies.