Local duo driving a company to watch

Award-winning Gasgon Medical pioneers new intravenous solution

By Simon O'Duffy

TWO local men are the driving force behind one of Ireland's most innovative companies, and they've developed a product that is set to revolutionise patient care worldwide.

Vincent Forde, son of John and Carmel of Capparoe, established Gasgon Medical in 2018. Two years later he was joined by Dan Stapleton, whom Vincent hired without realising he was from his neighbouring parish of Toomevara.

Based in Vincent's new home of Carrigaline, Co Cork, Gasgon Medical is the quintessential success story of a company growing from strength to strength. The concept of the medical devices company won Vincent a ‘Student Entreprenuer of the Year’ award in 2017 when he completed his Mechanical Engineering studies at Cork Institute of Technology. This was the first in a long series of accolades for the Capparoe man, whose company has in a few short years progressed from a student idea to the fully-fledged business that is now.

Gasgon has been selected for several international competitions, winning first place in Boston and finishing runner-up overall in a Europe-wide award. Vincent and Dan's company also represented Enterprise Ireland at a medical trade exhibition in Dubai recently.

Their most recent award came at the end of last year when Gasgon won at the InterTrade Ireland Seedcorn competition, first in Munster, then winning outright the all-island ‘Best Early Stage’ business award, with a prize fund of €100,000. Little surprise that Health Innovation Hub Ireland named Gasgon among their ‘20 businesses to watch in 2022’.

THE PRODUCT

The previous December, the Cork-based start-up won a Fast Track to Innovation grant from the European Commission. This was for a consortium of three companies and two hospitals put together by Vincent and Dan. The consortium was awarded €3 million to develop their product, ‘AirVault’, a device used to remove air bubbles from IV lines.

“No bubbles should ever enter a patient's veins because there is a risk of harm to the patient, and it requires a lot of manual intervention by nurses and doctors to manage these bubbles,” Vincent explained.

“So, we've created a small device that attaches to the IV line and catches the bubble and stops it at the source. It eliminates the need for manual intervention by nurses. It generates a lot more efficiency in the hospital and improves safety for the patient and for the nurse.

“If they're infusing chemotherapy, for example, when the nurse has to remove the bubble they can expose themselves to chemotherapy, which results in sicknesses amongst the nursing staff. By taking the bubble away at source, we proactively remove the risk and it results in a safer and more efficient environment.”

Very much at the cutting edge in their field, Vincent and Dan have now grown their team to six. They expect to have 10 people by the end of this year as plans unfold for rolling out AirVault nationally, in Europe and even the United States.

“We're engaged with several hospitals in Ireland,” Vincent said of his product. “We're also engaged with hospitals in Spain and Portugal and Germany. The plan is to roll the device out early next year, launching in the US and Europe once we have regulatory approval.”

TIPP TEAM

Vincent, a former Nenagh Vocational School student, who hurled with the 'Mines in his younger days, tells of how did not know Dan before hiring him in March 2020. Dan, originally of Coolderry and son of the late Tim and Nancy Stapleton, hurled for Toome’ and went to Nenagh CBS. He had spent 14 years working in China with PCH International. He now lives at Corbally, Limerick and had been working with other medical companies before joining Vincent as Chief Financial Officer at Gasgon.

“When I hired Dan, we were working together a few weeks before we actually chatted about where we were from and realised we were from only a couple of miles over the road from each other!" Vincent said.

“I recognised his global experience at the highest level. That's what I wanted in the business, so I got lucky that way and he just happened to be from Toomevara and I'm from Silvermines!”

He spoke of the good working rapport between the two local lads, both of whom are married fathers of three. Dan's arrival has solidified the direction Gasgon is going in and helped attract investment into the business.

Another example of pioneering innovation involving local people, Gasgon Medical is a story we can expect to read a lot more about in time to come.