More South African Medical Achievements

A Breath of Life for Covid Patients

As the Covid pandemic batters countries around the world, even those with the best and most advanced medical technology are battling to stem the tide of Covid deaths.

One of the biggest problems medical staff encounter, is finding sufficient ventilators to help those whose lungs are compromised by the illness.
With this in mind, a group of South African doctors, engineers and designers have invented a medical device which could revolutionise oxygen delivery to critical patients, and especially Covid 19 patients.

The company behind this revolutionary project is the Umoya-Gabler Consortium have announced that the Cape Town-based specialist medical device manufacturer Gabler Medical would now produce and distribute the clinically- and cost-effective, easy-to-use device, which has the potential to boost the scale and efficacy of Covid-19 oxygen care at clinics and hospitals.
Named OxERA (Oxygen-Efficient Respiratory Aid), the device is portable and delivers consistently high levels of oxygen to keep Covid-19 patients’ lungs from collapsing.

It could be a game changer in instances where there are a large number of patients but a lack of skilled staff, intensive care unit (ICU) and high care facilities as well as insufficient bulk oxygen supplies.
It effectively bridges the gap between current standard oxygen therapy via face masks and ICU-based non-invasive or mechanical ventilation, while requiring no more oxygen flow than a standard face mask,” the Umoya-Gabler Consortium said.

OxERA was developed by a group of East London-based volunteers that includes doctors, engineers and entrepreneurs and has now been approved by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority for emergency Covid-19 use.

The device has been used successfully in environments ranging from rural clinics to specialist hospitals, and by all levels of staff.
Hundreds of OxERAs have already been distributed to 25 hospitals around the country, said Umoya project manager Trevor Rossouw, a civil engineer.
Considering that the overwhelming need of COVID-19 pneumonia patients is oxygen. OxERA’s key components are an anaesthetic mask and an adjustable mechanical valve, known as a positive end respiratory pressure (PEEP) valve. Oxygen supply is via a hose and accumulator bag, with the hose connected to any available oxygen source. A viral filter removes viral particles from expired air, which is a safety benefit for health practitioners using the device.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has now approved the OxERA device for emergency COVID-19 use, which will be manufactured and distributed by Gabler Medical.

It is specifically designed to consistently deliver high levels of oxygen to ensure that the maximum oxygen content is available to diseased lungs. The valve on the device maintains slight pressure to prevent the lungs from collapsing when the patient breathes out and reduces the amount of work it takes to breathe, and Gabler Medical are confident that they can produce over 15,000 units a week, so capacity is not an issue!

This innovative South African medical technology could be — quite literally — a life saver.

n’ Boer Maak a Plan!

What can be more frustrating that having a seriously handicapped child, and not being able to quickly and easily find the best medical assistance for that child?

This was the problem that faced South African-born athlete and chiropractor Clint Phillips in 2009, when his 2-day old daughter suffered a severe stroke.
A keen sportsman and rugby player, Phillips had studied chiropractic medicine at Technikon Witwatersrand, and he subsequently found his way to Aspen, Colorado, which is better known as the mecca of skiing in the USA, but also had a well-established amateur rugby team.

After qualifying to operate as a chiropractor for limited procedures, he established a body and back medical practice at Aspen’s St. Regis hotel.
It was then that his newly-born daughter, Gabi, suffered a stroke, and Phillips rapidly learned that finding medical specialists with exactly the right skill-set quickly was well-nigh impossible! He and Gabi regularly flew across the country for a consultation with a doctor, only to be told that the particular specialist didn’t offer that particular service! This was both hugely expensive and highly frustrating!
He finally realised that what he needed was a database which could match individuals with a very specific medical condition, with the best doctors in the country for that particular condition.

Phillips founded a company called 2nd.MD, and began compiling a database of 22,000 medical professionals across all 132 medical specialities. To enable doctors to make accurate medical decisions on a virtual platform, Phillips’ brother Brent, an IT professional, developed a secure environment that could instantaneously provide access of the required medical records, as well as a secure platform between doctor and patient. By the end of 2020, 2nd.MD had grown its network to include 88 doctors, across all 132 specialities, available to 6.5 million individuals.

In January 2021, 2nd.MD was approached by Accolade, a listed health-care and employee benefits company, and Phillips eventually sold the company to Accolade for $460 million.

Best of all, while Phillips’ daughter Gabi still cannot use her right hand effectively, and struggles with certain tasks, her condition has improved to the point where she can play sports, and participate in other physical activities.

Researchers at the University of Cape Town team up with South African-born Billionaire to Fight Covid

Patrick Soon-Shiong was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa to Chinese immigrant parents on July 9th, 1952.
Soon-Shiong received a bachelor’s degree in medicine (MBBCh) at the age of 23, graduating 4th out of his class of 189., and completed his medical degree at Johannesburg’s General Hospital.
He then studied further at the University of British Columbia, earning a master’s degree in1979, with research awards from the American College of Surgeons.

After a long and successful career at the UCLA Medical School, Soon-Shiong shifted focus in 1998, when he developed the cancer drug Abraxane, which thanks to its success in treating pancreatic cancer became a blockbuster.
Since then, Soon-Shiong’s focus has been on developing medical technology with his company ImmunityBio, and it is in this regard, that he has now teamed up with researchers from the University of Cape Town to facilitate phase one of a clinical trial of the Covid 19 vaccine , hAd5 T-cell.
What makes the candidate interesting is that it is designed to boost an area of the body’s immune system that other vaccines, and will hopefully also be effective against any new variations of the virus which might develop.

Professor Graeme Meintjes of the Department of Medicine at UCT and a co-investigator on the trial, explains: “Vaccines currently being administered internationally are designed to generate immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein alone. We have already seen that the spike protein is mutation-prone. There is also now evidence for certain vaccines that protection against the 501Y.V2 variant is reduced. As a result, we will in all liklihood need alternative or adapted vaccines that are safe and effective against all current and future variants.

An additional protein in the SARS-CoV-2 virus is the nucleocapsid protein. This protein appears to be much more stable over time and therefore has a lower risk of developing mutations that could risk vaccine failure. This phase one clinical trial will be assessing a vaccine candidate that exposes the immune system to both the spike and nucleocapsid proteins,” he adds.

The vaccine, developed by ImmunityBio and manufactured by NantKwest, will be trialled in Khayelitsha, at UCT’s Wellcome Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa clinical research site.