Linde Healthcare launches new funding for innovative gas-based therapies

12 Nov 2010

German company Linde Healthcare has launched the Linde Healthcare REALfund to support and stimulate novel and innovative ideas, research and projects relating to the use of gases healthcare.

These could be, for example, solutions that can drive improvements in clinical value, safety, patient comfort, mobility, ergonomics or cost/benefit ratio; or solutions to support new applications for the treatment, prevention or diagnosis of diseases or other physical disorders.
 
Dr Walter Koppensteiner, Head of Linde Healthcare, said, “Expectations are that gas-based therapies and innovative delivery devices will play crucial roles in healthcare. The REALfund stands for Research, Evolve, Advance, Lead, and our promise to make a real difference for patients, caregivers and medical institutions."
 
Applications are open to healthcare practitioners, patient organisations, inventors and academic researchers.

The REALfund will support projects for new applications of gases, devices for safe and effective application of gases or monitoring of effects and success of gas related therapies, as well as complementary products and services in the field.

The amount of money which will be granted will depend on the complexity of the project but will be limited to a maximum support of €75,000 per project. Focus areas are acute pain management, respiratory medicine, and gas-enabled wound care (but without excluding promising ideas from other fields).
 
The selection process for the REALfund will include internal experts and representatives from the Linde Healthcare businesses. The company will also involve external experts in the evaluation of the applications.