Renal calculus is a chronic disorder that is more commonly known as “kidney stonesâ€. It affects one in ten people worldwide throughout their lives and involves painful acute episodes called renal colic, which have a recurrence rate of 60% of cases after 5 years and 80% after 10 years. Episodes of renal colic cause considerable discomfort to the patients who suffer from them, and they decrease quality of life. In addition, their treatment costs the national health system about €3,000 per patient per year.
We founded Devicare on completion of a technology transfer agreement with the University of the Balearic Islands for the patent for Lit-Control. We then set out to develop the first prototype of the device. To achieve this, we formed an engineering team comprised of various centers with experience and recognized excellence in different areas, including the Centre for Sensors, Instruments and Systems Development (CD6 UPC) of the Universidad Politècnica de Catalunya·BarcelonaTech.
Four months after the formation of this consortium, led by Dr. J. Caum from CD6 UPC, we created the first functional prototype of Lit-Control, which enabled us to validate the product at technical, clinical and market level.
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Rosendo Garganta, with the Lit-Control device, in the UPC’s North Campus |
Lit-Control® became Devicare’s first product. It is the first home use medical device in the world designed to prevent renal calculus in the home, reduce the recurrence of renal colic in patients, improve their quality of life and cut healthcare costs.
Currently, Devicare is working with various manufacturers in Vallès in the industrial development stage of Lit-Control, so that it can be launched on the market at the beginning of 2014, at a competitive cost and in compliance with the relevant health regulations. Nevertheless, the essence of the product continues to be the same as that of the prototype developed by the consortium led by CD6 UPC in those months of hard work at the end of 2012.
From a corporate perspective, collaboration with the UPC through CD6 UPC and the consortium we formed around these bodies was an important experience that we hope to repeat in the future. It was enhanced by the expert knowledge of the research centers and their ability to understand the needs and pace of the company. This allowed us to develop in a very short time and at reasonable cost the first functional prototype of a product whose technical, commercial and clinical viability has been validated.
Rosendo Garganta
CEO Devicare
Alumni of the Terrassa School of Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering of the UPC
Devicare is a technology-based start-up that was launched in 2012 to develop home use medical devices for chronic patient care.