WAYNE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NeoTract, a wholly owned subsidiary of Teleflex Incorporated (NYSE:TFX) focused on addressing unmet needs in the field of urology, today welcomed the announcement that the company’s novel UroLift® System for patients with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) has been acknowledged by the UK Government as one of only seven Accelerated Access Collaborative “Rapid Uptake Products.”
The UroLift System will now benefit from support from the Accelerated Access Collaborative to rapidly increase its uptake in the NHS. This enables transformative products to reach patients as quickly as possible through streamlined regulatory and market access decisions.
Neil Barber, Consultant Urologist, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, was the first surgeon to routinely offer the UroLift System on the NHS. Mr. Barber said, “I am very pleased by this news. Having been involved in the initial European randomized clinical trial, the potential benefits of the UroLift System to both patients and the NHS quickly became very clear. What was evident from the beginning was that this is an effective day case procedure that, for the first time, preserves sexual function; we could offer most patients the likely prospect going home catheter-free; and they would experience a rapid improvement in symptoms and a return to normal activity with days rather than weeks as is the case for more standard surgical options.
“What we have learned in the NHS setting since the first procedures in 2014 is that the UroLift System has hugely helped us to improve the use of our resources. In my own Trust, we have been able to relocate the site of operation from the classical operating theatre to a procedure or minor ops room, and we are able to perform up to six UroLift System procedures on one list. This helps us to release precious capacity and reduce waiting times in other parts of our service.”
Teleflex Interventional Urology EMEA Vice President and General Manager, Justin Hall, said: “We are humbled and honored to hear that the UroLift System is one of the seven products that Accelerated Access Collaborative has chosen to support, enabling rapid increase in their uptake.
The inclusion of the UroLift System into the Accelerated Access Collaborative Rapid Uptake Products list follows the decision by NHS England in 2017 to name the treatment as one of the first recipients of the first Innovation and Technology Tariff, which essentially helped to fast track this minimally invasive, day case treatment into the NHS.
Mr. Hall added, “Today’s announcement shows that the Government acknowledges the treatment’s unique clinical benefits and our quality of robust clinical evidence, and increasingly, real world data, gathered from NHS urologists. Their experience shows that using the UroLift System allows them to deliver benefits for NHS urology departments: in terms of reducing overall costs and complications; saving substantial numbers of bed days; and hours of operating theatre time. The UroLift System potentially frees capacity for urologists to focus on critical cancer targets and waiting times, reducing delays in urgent and planned surgery.
“Our close partnership with NHS clinicians and regulators is enabling a true service transformation: not only for men and their treatment options but also in terms of developing a methodology of how to adopt a disruptive healthcare technology, such as The UroLift System, and embed it into the NHS, in a comparatively markedly shorter time than previous innovations.”
Jean-Luc Dianda, President, EMEA,Teleflex, said, “The UroLift System is a recent acquisition for Teleflex, and we believe it perfectly fits our mission statement to deliver medical technologies designed to improve the health and quality of people’s lives. Today’s announcement demonstrates that the treatment is now also additionally acknowledged as a transformative technology within a major public healthcare system.”
About the UroLift® System
The FDA-cleared UroLift System is a proven, minimally invasive technology for treating lower urinary tract symptoms due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The UroLift permanent implants, delivered during a minimally invasive transurethral outpatient procedure, relieve prostate obstruction and open the urethra directly without cutting, heating, or removing prostate tissue. Clinical data from a pivotal 206-patient randomized controlled study showed that patients with enlarged prostate receiving UroLift implants reported rapid and durable symptomatic and urinary flow rate improvement without compromising sexual function. Patients also experienced a significant improvement in quality of life. Nearly 70,000 men have been treated with the UroLift System in the U.S. Most common adverse events reported include hematuria, dysuria, micturition urgency, pelvic pain, and urge incontinence. Most symptoms were mild to moderate in severity and resolved within two to four weeks after the procedure. The UroLift System Prostatic Urethral Lift procedure is recommended for the treatment of BPH in both the American Urological Association and European Association of Urology clinical guidelines. The UroLift System is available in the U.S., Europe, Australia, Canada, Mexico and South Korea. Learn more at www.UroLift.com.
About NeoTract | Teleflex Interventional Urology
A wholly owned subsidiary of Teleflex Incorporated, the NeoTract Interventional Urology Business Unit is dedicated to developing innovative, minimally invasive and clinically effective devices that address unmet needs in the field of urology. Our initial focus is on improving the standard of care for patients with BPH using the UroLift System, a minimally invasive permanent implant system that treats symptoms while preserving normal sexual function. Learn more at www.NeoTract.com.
About Teleflex Incorporated
Teleflex is a global provider of medical technologies designed to improve the health and quality of people’s lives. We apply purpose driven innovation – a relentless pursuit of identifying unmet clinical needs – to benefit patients and healthcare providers. Our portfolio is diverse, with solutions in the fields of vascular and interventional access, surgical, anesthesia, cardiac care, urology, emergency medicine and respiratory care. Teleflex employees worldwide are united in the understanding that what we do every day makes a difference. For more information, please visit www.teleflex.com.
Teleflex is the home of Arrow®, Deknatel®, Hudson RCI®, LMA®, Pilling®, Rusch®, UroLift® System and Weck® – trusted brands united by a common sense of purpose.
Neil Barber is a paid consultant to NeoTract | Teleflex Interventional Urology.
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