Public Funding for 3D Engineering Design Limited

An estimated 5.4 million people across the UK have asthma. Non-compliance with inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) treatment regimens is believed to contribute to over 61% of deaths from asthma. 3D Design Engineering Ltd plan to develop an innovative inhaler to aid patient compliance with their prescribed ICS drug regime. The impacts of enabling greater compliance with ICS treatments would be manifold; a reduction in morbidity and mortality would be expected, as would a reduction in the costs to the NHS associated with asthma, which currently costs the NHS an estimated £1 billion a year, with total associated costs to the UK estimated from £2.3 billion per year to over £6 billion per year. Economic burden of asthma results from poorly controlled disease and asthma exacerbations, which contribute to increased direct medical expenditures related to emergency care as well as indirect costs of lost work time and lost productivity. Over 12.7 million working days are lost to asthma each year.

An estimated 5.4 million people across the UK have asthma. Non-compliance with inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) treatment regimens is believed to contribute to over 61% of deaths from asthma. 3D Design Engineering Ltd plan to develop an innovative inhaler to aid patient compliance with their prescribed drug regime. The impacts of enabling greater compliance with ICS treatments would be manifold; a reduction in morbidity and mortality would be expected, as would a reduction in the costs to the NHS associated with asthma, which costs the NHS an estimated £1 billion a year with total associated costs to the UK estimated from £2.3 billion per year to over £6 billion per year. Economic burden of asthma results from poorly controlled disease and asthma exacerbations, which contribute to increased direct medical expenditures related to emergency care as well as indirect costs of lost work time and lost productivity. Over 12.7 million working days are lost to asthma each year.

Psychological issues are recognised as key drivers in the management and care of people suffering from Asthma. Research has found that there can be a stigma towards people with Asthma and the methods in which it is treated, this creates a barrier in the effective self-management practises of the disease especially in children and young adults Over the years treatment for Asthma has made glacial progress in terms of change or development. This project aims to develop the way in which this treatment is administered to enhance patient management of the disease in social environments The research undertaken will aid in determining the actual market potential, the definitive user requirements and will enable a prior cost benefit analysis to the NHS of the potential opportunity to take place before development. All of the information combined will be informative for 3D Engineering’s technology roadmap for product development.