Neuropad® will be promoted to the primary care community from 1 November 2008 after its listing in the Drug Tariff at a price of £6.99. Ark will market Neuropad® through its existing UK salesforce which currently markets the Company’s wound care products, Kerraboot®, Kerraped® and Flaminal®.
Diabetic foot syndrome frequently results in foot ulcers which are both distressing for the patient and difficult to treat as well as being a significant financial burden to the NHS. Neuropad® assesses the status of the sweat gland (sudomotor) response by measuring the moisture status of the foot. An abnormal sweat gland response is closely correlated with the onset of peripheral autonomic neuropathy in the feet.
Current screening tools for the early detection of the diabetic foot syndrome in primary care require a subjective patient response and rely on the skill of healthcare professionals. However, autonomic neuropathy affects small fibres much earlier in the disease process (in most cases) and Neuropad®, unlike the currently available tests in primary care, will detect this damage when patients are asymptomatic of large fibre damage.
Neuropad® has been designed to be safe, non-invasive and easily applied in a primary care setting, including long term residential or nursing care, and can be applied without additional training by practice nurses and community podiatrists as they perform routine screening of their diabetic patients. Neuropad® supports the NHS Quality Outcomes Framework which recommends that all diabetic patients are assessed for peripheral neuropathy every 15 months.
Early identification of neuropathy using Neuropad® will reduce the incidence of diabetic foot ulcers by allowing timely preventative measures to be implemented. The cost to the NHS of treating a foot ulcer is estimated to be £5,200 and as many as 64,000 diabetic patients are likely to develop an open ulcer in any one year1.
Commenting on today's announcement, Cecile Miles, Ark's Commercial Director, said: “This is very good news for our growing wound care business. Since Neuropad® is very sensitive and able to detect early neuropathy, we believe it will have a significant impact on the quality of diabetic foot screening available to patients, reducing both patient suffering and the clinical and cost burden of diabetic ulcers to the NHS.”
Dr Nigel Parker, CEO of Ark, added: “The process of securing reimbursement is taking an increasingly long time and we are very pleased to have got this through. Neuropad® is an ideal fit with Ark’s wound care strategy of introducing innovative products that deliver both clinical benefits and savings to the healthcare system. This news is in line with our plan to launch at least two new products during this year.”
