The Electrospinning Company develop and manufacture medical-grade electrospun materials and coatings for medical devices with a variety of clinical applications. One area of interest for them was the development of a lower cost, biosynthetic material for use in ophthalmic surgery.
The Electrospinning Company were looking for an evidence-based approach to derive robust, data-driven insights to support their regulatory case and drive commercial success in this market and approached the Health Tech Enterprise team for support.
The Technology
The Electrospinning Company developed a novel synthetic material designed for use in ophthalmic surgery. A healthy corneal epithelium is essential in protecting the eye against infections and structural damage to deeper tissues. A nonhealing, or persistent epithelial defect (PED) occurs when there is a failure of the mechanism promoting corneal epithelialisation within the normal two-week time frame. Cases of PED which do not respond to first-line therapies can be treated with human amniotic membrane transplants (AMT). The human amniotic membrane used at present for the treatment of PED suffers from a lack of standardisation. The wide variability in the
nature and composition of the human amniotic membrane contributes to high variance in the observed success rates of the AMT procedure itself.
The Electrospinning Company have developed a lower cost, synthetic alternative to the currently used human amniotic membrane; Symatix®. The Symatix Technology seamlessly integrate electrospun fibres with natural materials like hyaluronic acid, collagen, or chitosan in a streamlined one-step process. This innovative approach adds tailored properties such as antimicrobial effects, improved biocompatibility, or reduced scarring while maintaining the strength of synthetic fibres.
While the innovation showed strong potential to enhance surgical success rates, its cost-effectiveness and impact on patient outcomes needed to be clearly quantified to support regulatory approval and market adoption.
Impacts
We engaged directly with key opinion leaders in ophthalmology, conducting structured interviews to gain a deep understanding of current clinical practices and unmet needs. To quantify the impact of the innovation, we:
- Conducted a literature review and meta-analysis to assess current surgical success and failure rates.
- Built a decision tree model to compare outcomes between standard care and the new graft.
- Simulated the budgetary impact of the innovation across the UK’s addressable market over a five-year period.
- Performed a probabilistic sensitivity analysis to account for uncertainties.
Outcomes
Our evaluation demonstrated that the innovative synthetic graft developed by The Electrospinning Company has the potential to generate substantial cost savings for the NHS. By improving surgical outcomes and reducing failure rates, the innovation could drastically lower the overall cost of ophthalmic procedures, making it a more economical and effective alternative to existing graft options. The findings are now being used to support regulatory discussions and to strengthen the case for NICE adoption, helping to pave the way for widespread implementation.
“Working with HTE has been a very positive experience. Updates were provided regularly, and the final model and report were explained extensively and clearly. The report will be provided to NICE to support the case for our product to be adopted as standard treatment.”
— Gianpaolo Bruti, Project Manager, The Electrospinning Company
