"Bridging the Gap in Healthcare and Fulfilling a Clinical Need"
Class Medical have developed a solution to meet the challenge of a reoccurring medical issue of improper catheter inflation for 13 / 1000 male patients world wide. Early product in field trials have potentially saved 250 patients in Ireland from severe complications related to urinary catheterisation.
Medical procedures carry inherent risks despite their life-saving potential. Urinary catheterization, a widely practiced procedure involving the insertion of a catheter into the urethra to drain urine from the bladder, exemplifies this. Professor Michael Walsh, an expert in biomedical device engineering and Principal Investigator (PI) at Bernal Institute, University of Limerick, highlights the common use of the Foley catheter, equipped with an inner balloon inflated once it reaches the bladder.
However, the blind nature of this procedure often leads to inadvertent balloon inflation within the urethra, causing significant acute and long-term urethral injuries—a recurring issue in male catheterizations. In response, a team of Bernal & UL scientists, including Professor Walsh, developed the trans-urethral catheterization (TUC) safety valve. This innovative technology effectively eliminates the risk of unintended balloon inflation in the urethra, offering a simple, user-friendly solution to healthcare professionals.
Established 10 years ago as a UL spin-out company, Class Medical was co-founded by Professor Walsh and then-research students, Dr. Rory Mooney Professor Niall Davis MD, and Dr Eoghan Cunnane. At the time, Professor Walsh was the PI and co-inventor at his lab in the Bernal Institute.
The company is preparing to introduce the TUC safety valve in the UK in the third quarter of this year, with plans for a subsequent launch in the US early next year. Their overarching goal is to see widespread adoption of the device in urology catheterization procedures worldwide.