A Clinical Entrepreneur pioneers groundbreaking solutions for the NHS.

May 7, 2024

Dr Alastair Darwood is an innovator focused on developing novel technologies to solve challenges within healthcare.

Dr Alastair Darwood has authored over 14 healthcare publications, with a focus on innovation.

Skarper has raised over £12.5 million in funding and is supported by Red Bull Formula 1 team’s Advanced Technologies division.

The IDAS Mask System won the Innovation in Anaesthesia Critical Care and Pain award by the Association of Anaesthetists in 2022, and the AURA MKI ventilator was awarded runner-up position in 2020.

Dr Alastair Darwood is a Doctor, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Skarper and Founder of Inspired Ventilation Ltd, who joined the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme in 2019.

As a medical device innovator, Alastair focuses on early-stage translation and prototyping. He has successfully exited two start-ups in the orthopaedic and anaesthetics sectors, maintaining a close advisory role with their ongoing commercialisation and clinical trials.

“There is no problem that exists that cannot be solved.”

Dr Alastair Darwood began his journey at Medical School in Nottingham, where his love for problem solving, hands-on work and engineering led him to aspire to become a surgeon. Halfway through his intercalated biomedical sciences degree, Alastair developed his first invention, which was an Orthopaedic robotics platform. During this time, he was able to simultaneously study to become a doctor and develop a company, where he created a basic prototype and achieved a small amount of angel investment to work with Imperial College to develop the device further.

Upon graduation, Alastair transitioned to the role of foundation year 1 doctor and successfully sold his company to DeSoutter Medical. DeSoutter continued this research programme and finished the development of the device with their first human studies scheduled for summer 2024. During this time, Alastair commenced an academic foundation placement in surgery at the Northwest Thames Deanery in London, allowing him to focus more on innovation in healthcare, alongside clinical training. As part of this programme, he developed a new type of emergency ventilator. This idea stemmed from his exploration of the ventilators being used in current clinical practice, which were both expensive and complex. Alastair wanted to find a way to make these simpler and cheaper. The AURA MKI was created as a low-cost portable ventilator with an innovative control architecture that eliminates the need for complex digital sensors or software. In 2020, the AURA MKI was awarded runner up position in the Innovation in Anaesthesia Critical Care and Pain awards by the Association of Anaesthetists.

Upon completion of his foundation year and MRCS exam, Alastair completed a PHD in Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London. His studies explored the development of devices to stimulate stem cells to help fracture healing in orthopaedic surgery.

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, Alastair’s AURA MKI project was selected and funded to support the creation of low-cost trauma ventilators. Partnering with Red Bull and Renault Formula 1 teams, and Olympus as a manufacturing partner, they swiftly designed and built ventilators to support the pandemic.

During his PhD and ventilator development, Alastair worked clinically in General Surgery and A&E at St. Mary’s Hospital in London. It was in this clinical setting where he saw first-hand the challenges around sedation and the administration of strong analgesia. Alastair found the current approach complex, as it required a highly trained medical professional or anaesthetist to administer the correct amount of powerful medications due to the varied and sometimes dangerous side-effect profiles. As a Junior Doctor, he was not qualified to deliver sedation, even for very minor procedures and he wanted to explore this challenge further.

The IDAS mask system

This research has led to the development of Inspired Ventilation and the IDAS Mask System (Inhaled Dynamic Analgesia and Sedation). IDAS is a patient-worn facemask currently undergoing testing. Once validated, it is intended to enable patients to safely and reliably self-administer microdoses of a commonly used general anaesthetic agent.

The aim of IDAS is to empower clinicians to deliver care in the most efficient outpatient settings, potentially avoiding the need for full operative interventions under general anaesthesia. This could contribute to reducing NHS waiting list times by streamlining patient pathways.

IDAS is being designed for use by any clinician and, once proven safe and effective, is intended to operate without the need for direct supervision by an anaesthetist.

Skarper

In 2020, alongside the Inspired Ventilation project, Alastair also co-founded Skarper, a device that seamlessly converts any standard bicycle into an electric bike (e-bike). The compact, high-performance motor and battery drive unit attaches to a regular bike, enabling swift transformation and equally easy reversion. Branded as the DiskDrive®, this ultralight clip-on drive system overcomes the limitations seen in other existing eBike drive technologies. Skarper has secured over £12.5 million in investment and currently employs team of over 20 engineers and designers. In 2024, Skarper revealed a partnership with Red Bull Formula 1 team’s Advanced Technologies division who worked extensively on the development of their novel DiskDrive technology..

Alastair commenced the Inspired Ventilation project in late 2020 and dedicated a year to developing the IDAS device, demonstrating its feasibility through benchtop testing and prototyping. In May 2022, Intersurgical, Europe’s largest manufacturer of anaesthetic equipment assumed control of the venture, leveraging their extensive experience in medical device development and regulatory compliance. Alastair transitioned to the role of clinical and research advisor, helping to guide the company through the successful completion of the initial volunteer trials. In 2022, the IDAS Mask System won the Innovation in Anaesthesia Critical Care and Pain awards by the Association of Anaesthetists.

View of the CEP

“The NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme was the first community that I have joined which gives you the permission, support, and acceptance to be a medical innovator within the NHS. It gave me access to a network of other likeminded healthcare entrepreneurs who want to change the status quo, which has resulted in meaningful connections and collaborations. Professor Tony Young have supported me with vital advice and guidance throughout my journey, which has helped me to push forward.

I would encourage all healthcare professionals to never accept what is deemed as normal and explore how things could be improved- There is no problem that exists that cannot be solved. I highly recommend that if you are interested in innovating that you should apply! It’s a hugely valuable programme and experience.”

Dr Alastair Darwood

Looking to the future

In 2024, Alastair aims to continually develop his career in innovation, exploring how he can apply his medical and engineering background to further reduce the challenges faced by our healthcare system and create products that directly support the NHS.

Alastair is also championing a change in culture in the NHS, communicating that it is vital for frameworks to be put in place to allow for innovation to work alongside clinical and non-clinical roles.

Alastair says: “It is very challenging to be a doctor/healthcare professional and develop novel medical technologies at the same time. I would love to see a future where we really encourage innovation in medical roles and have a framework which allows doctors to develop an understanding of medical technology and apply these skills whilst working within the NHS. It is also key to explore how we allow innovators and engineers who have left the NHS to enable idea generation to support the future of our healthcare services. In the future, roles dedicated to medical technologists, could help resolve challenges and reduce the burden on our NHS in a more efficient way.”

*References: