Viveca Biomed has launched an innovative and clinically-proven bladder support device, Contrelle that offers women immediate relief from stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and provides community pharmacy contractors with a way to build a new consumer base, customer loyalty and sales margins. The product, named ‘Contrelle Activgard’, has already recorded millions of sales in Scandinavia over a decade. Read more.
Source: Pharmacy Business, August 24, 2022
Hygiene and health company Essity is strengthening its offering in incontinence products through the acquisition of the Dutch company Novioscan. The company develops a wearable ultrasound technology that monitors the bladder and enables continence control. The purchase price is approximately SEK 70m (EUR 6.5m) on a debt-free basis. The SENS-U innovation is a wearable ultrasound sensor that measures the level in the bladder. It sends a discrete notification that allows the user to empty their bladder in time. A version of SENS-U for children is already available in the market and an adult version is under development. Read more.
Source: PRNewswire, April 1, 2020
While much of the new product development for adult incontinence today has led to thinner and thinner products for light incontinence, Illinois-based NorthShore Care Supply has focused on bringing innovation and dignity to those who suffer from moderate to heavy incontinence. Witnessing family members struggling to manage their incontinence supplies using traditional retail products is what led Adam Greenberg to start up an adult incontinence business while completing his MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2002. “At that that time, it was very confusing to shop for premium adult diapers online as everything sounded and looked the same and there was nobody that could help guide my family through this frustrating and embarrassing process,” says Greenberg, owner and president of NorthShore Care Supply. “So I studied up, and quickly became a diaper expert and was able to translate all the clinical specifications designed for nurses and hospitals into a very user friendly format that put families and patients at ease and made them feel like our products had a good chance to provide them the dignity and security that they’d been searching for.” Read more.
Source: Nonwovens Industry, October 17, 2019
Safe Medical Design, a company based in San Francisco, CA, won FDA clearance for its Signal Catheter device. The indwelling foley urinary catheter is designed to help prevent discomfort and injury that can occur if it’s incorrectly placed, an all-too-common occurrence. Indwelling urinary catheters typically have a balloon at the tip that is inflated once it’s within the bladder. This prevents the catheter from sliding out. When the patient is “dry” and no urine is in the catheter, it’s often difficult to tell whether the catheter tip made it into the bladder, at times resulting in premature inflation that can cause serious trauma. The Signal Catheter is made of 100% silicone and it features a mechanism that relieves the pressure inside the balloon if it is improperly positioned and inflated inside the urethra. Read more.
Source: Medgadget, March 1, 2019
Today’s healthcare is full of technology that would seem like science fiction to our grandparents. But this is far from true in every area: some remain woefully neglected by innovation. Hop in a time machine back to ancient Egypt and you would find recognisable examples of the absorbent pads and catheters which are still a mainstay in the management of incontinence today. The earliest known reference to an absorbent pad dates from 4th-century Egypt: the female scientist Hypatia is recorded as having thrown her menstrual rag at a student to ward off his infatuation with her. The pad remained a homemade “product” for many centuries until the 19th century, when manufactured versions of reuseable “antiseptic cotton for absorbing discharges” could be purchased from pharmacies. Disposable pads, first produced by Kotex in 1920, were in widespread use by the late 1930s. Since then, the only major innovation in their design has been the introduction of super absorbent polymers in the 1980s, which have dramatically improved absorbency. Read more.
Source: The Conversation, July 30, 2018
Sweden’s Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget or SCA dates back to 1929 as a holding company for ten forestry businesses. Over the proceeding decades, SCA began acquiring various hygiene businesses although they remain the largest private land owner of forest land in Europe holding roughly 2.6 million hectares (6.4 million acres). Separating these two businesses made sense and hopefully will allow the true value of each to be realized. In 2016, Essity (OTC:ESSYY) accounted for 86% ($11.5 billion) of SCA’s total revenue so while SCA was originally founded as a forest products company, in reality, it was a health and hygiene business and had been for many years. It earned around $480 million and generated $790 million in owner earnings last year. Read more.
Source: Seeking Alpha, June 19, 2017
Surgery is the most reliable method of treatment for incontinence – curing the condition in just over eight in ten cases; other types of treatment, meanwhile, do not deliver the same kind of success. These are the findings of a comprehensive systematic overview of cure rates for the treatment of incontinence around the world during the last ten years. “Unfortunately we are not actually curing the condition in that many cases. Surgery aside, the results delivered are poor. And the problems are only going to get worse in the future because the population, as we know, is aging,” says Ian Milsom, Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the Sahlgrenska Academy and Head of the Gothenburg Continence Research Center (GCRC). Read more.
Source: Science Daily, April 4, 2017
A few examples of adult absorbent incontinence products for incontinence.
Adult absorbent incontinence products refers to a category of products that absorb urine (and some absorb feces), including what most people refer to as “adult diapers”. These products are either disposable or reusable (they can be washed and used again). They are designed for both men and women of all ages and sizes. In addition to disposable or reusable products, there are a variety of different types of absorbent products, including “panty liner” styles, full briefs (pull-on or pull-up styles), and booster pads (placed as a liner inside of a brief). Adult absorbent products are not a treatment for incontinence, but a way to manage incontinence during treatments, during recovery from surgery or an illness, or until a treatment can be found.
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