Aussie-invented NeedleCalm available to hospitals following most significant distribution deal

MedTech News: Australia’s world-leading medical invention that helps reduce pain and fear in medical procedures, NeedleCalm, has aligned with Haines Medical Australia – a division of Australia’s largest independent medical device distribution group – to make the device available to hospitals in Australia and New Zealand.

Haines is the latest and largest in a growing distribution pipeline for NeedleCalm in Australia and New Zealand since the device’s official launch last year, following the likes of Team Medical, Medimart, MediSpa and Cape Medical (NZ).

This comes on the back of NeedleCalm’s win at the 2021 Good Design Awards Week, announced in November. The product is a Class 1 medical device approved by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)

NeedleCalm CEO, founder and inventor, Lauren Barber, said it was a major coup for the company to secure the support of another of the nation’s leading medical distributors.

Ms Barber said she was optimistic for 2022, with an aim to bolster the company’s Tran-Tasman presence, while looking to potential overseas markets by the end of the year to coincide with the predicted demand for traditional needle-related procedures continuing to return to pre-pandemic levels.

“Haines has a long history of supplying the latest medical innovations for Australians and we’re proud to be a part of that,” Ms Barber said.

“It’s important to remember Australia had approximately 128 million needle procedures annually before COVID – and our product can be used to help treat around 60% of them. The pandemic has certainly presented increasing opportunities to partner with hospitals, primary care providers and medical distributors like Haines to continue to grow, monitor and improve the product’s use in real life – and real time.

“But NeedleCalm was specifically designed to make a difference, not just a quick buck, and I see our biggest opportunity still in the traditional needle procedures like cancer treatment, blood transfusions and venepuncture.

“This is a philosophy that I believe NeedleCalm and Haines share. Haines also brings the access and reputation needed to break into Australia’s competitive hospital market and grow exponentially. Particularly as country health systems increasingly settle on how best to manage COVID and scale up traditional needle procedures and treatments back to pre-pandemic levels over the next 12 months.”

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Haines National Product Manager Laura De Lacy said Haines was excited to serve as the conduit between NeedleCalm and hospital buyers.

“When the price of NeedleCalm is weighed up against the time, costs and trauma that can arise from treating needle phobic patients, it really is a no brainer. It’s a product we’d love to see become mainstream in hospitals
across Australia.”

Based on the gate control theory of pain, the sensation produced by NeedleCalm on the skin blocks the flow of pain signals to the brain. NeedleCalm is secured to the patient’s skin no more than 5cm above the
anticipated site of the needle immediately prior to the procedure. The device applies light pressure and a mild cooling sensation to stimulate the skin at the injection site.

This includes helping treat Trypanophobia – the fear of needles – as defined by the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disordersii in the Blood Injury and Injections (BII) category.