A consortium lead by SageTech Medical, a pioneering UK-based company developing sustainable technologies for the healthcare sector, has been awarded £3.6 million in grant funding through Innovate UK’s Grand Challenge. The consortium members are The Manufacturing Technology Centre, The Centre for Process Innovation, NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Sustainable Innovation and The University of Plymouth.
This award follows the company’s earlier success in the Expression of Interest (EoI) stage of the Sustainable Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Programme (SMMIP), an initiative designed to drive innovation and sustainability across the UK’s life sciences manufacturing sector. The SMMIP EoI competition provided seed funding to help organisations form consortia and prepare proposals for future Grand Challenges – large-scale collaborative R&D awards worth up to £10 million per project. By supporting collaboration between academia, industry, and healthcare providers, Innovate UK’s SMMIP aims to build a sustainable and resilient UK manufacturing base capable of delivering greener, smarter healthcare technologies.
This commitment to sustainable innovation aligns directly with SageTech Medical’s mission to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare, particularly through tackling the climate challenge posed by anaesthetic gases. A large proportion of the anaesthetic gases used during surgery are not metabolised by patients and are instead exhaled into the atmosphere. These gases, which include sevoflurane, isoflurane, and desflurane, are potent greenhouse agents that remain in the atmosphere for long periods, contributing significantly to global warming.
Worldwide, the atmospheric disposal of volatile anaesthetic gases account for approximately four million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent emissions each year. It is estimated that the manufacture of volatile anaesthetics adds up to an additional two and a half million tonnes, with existing waste management systems contributing a further estimated one and a quarter million tonnes, altogether making them a notable contributor to the carbon footprint of healthcare systems.
SageTech Medical has developed an innovative circular solution that captures, recovers, and recycles these waste gases. Its reusable SID-Can filters safely capture the waste anaesthetic during procedures and are then returned to SageTech for agent recovery and recycling, where it is converted back into usable anaesthetics for reuse in hospitals, creating a circular economy system.
The £3.6 million Grand Challenge funding will enable SageTech Medical to expand manufacturing capacity and increase production of its patented recycling systems to meet growing demand in the UK and abroad. The company will also develop new data-driven technologies for sustainable gas recovery and reuse, while improving energy efficiency and reducing waste across its entire production process.
Steve Wileman, SageTech Medical’s Head of Research, said:
“Securing this Grand Challenge funding marks a major milestone for SageTech Medical,” said Steve Wileman, Head of Research. “SageTech are delighted to be working with some of the brightest and best scientists and engineers through MTC and CPI, and the opportunity to work again with trusted partners at Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and The University of Plymouth is very exciting. This funding will enable SageTech to build on the technologies we have developed, focusing on enhanced sustainability, costs reductions, and to prepare for increased scale as we expand across the UK, into the EU, and beyond.”
About SageTech Medical
The manufacture of virgin anaesthetic agents and their release as waste volatile gases is highly damaging to the environment and contributes significantly to the total carbon footprint of healthcare. SageTech Medical is a medical device company focused on the research, design, manufacture and distribution of technologies for the capture and recycling of waste volatile anaesthetic agents. SageTech’s mission is to significantly reduce the global release of an estimated 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emission each year from anaesthetic gases used in human and veterinary healthcare.