Manufacturing Makes a Mark on Medical Device Production
To help provide accurate medical care during the pandemic, WeMed was founded to create a stethoscope that could be affordable and accessible enough for families to use at home. Nexa3D helped to bring it to market.
WeMed, a French startup founded during the Covid-19 pandemic, specializes in designing devices for telemedicine. After discovering the need for remote diagnostic medical devices to relieve pressure in hospitals, WeMed partnered with Nexa3D to help produce the SKOP™ 3D printed stethoscope.
SKOP was conceptualized to help provide improved telehealth care during the first pandemic lockdown in France, WeMed wanted to create a stethoscope that allows access to a truly remote medical diagnosis, to help substitute the visit to the doctor’s office.
Healthcare from Home
During the strictest days of early lockdown in France, the founders of WeMed saw an unmet need for affordable, but accurate, stethoscopes in order to provide virtual or telephonic medical care.
Partnering to Innovate
Nexa3D provided fast and accurate printing capabilities, and partnered with it’s material manufacturers to innovate the ideal material for the SKOP
Breaking Barriers of Sound
The SKOP is the first cardiopulmonary auscultation medical device intended for both healthcare professionals and the general public, developed with speed and precision in a time of crisis.
Balancing Precision and Speed to Market
WeMed wanted to create a device that is easy to use, universal, and above all, affordable and accessible. But in order to be accessible to the most people in need, SKOP needed to increase speed of production and relieve pressure on healthcare, fast.
WeMed’s and their contracting partner Third faced a dilemma balancing production volume and maintaining part quality. While medical devices require irreproachable quality and reproducibility, acoustics is a science that relies on precision and a large production volume was key for this project. To help meet these challenges, reseller Hava3D introduced Third to Nexa3D as the solution.
One Printer Meets all the Requirements
Nexa3D suggested a technology that offered precision, speed, and reproducibility in one — the NXE 400. “Nexa3D seemed seduced by the SKOP project and knew how to respond to our expectations, asking its partners to manufacture resins specific to our needs,” explained Cyrille Lecroq, CEO of WeMed. “The company’s investment of time and energy into the project so that the industrialization of SKOP could be realized made a real difference — collaborating with very young start-ups such as WeMed can be a risk. When we see the quality of our products today, we are very happy that Nexa3D dared to take this risk and that Third made this choice.”
Other technologies offering the possibility of high-volume 3D printing have a very high cost associated. Nexa3D’s technology allowed production on an industrial scale while offering a sufficiently low production cost. The scale-up costs and complexities that could arise with purchasing a large number of printers has been eliminated by WeMed procuring 20 NXE 400 printers for its partner Third to manufacture the SKOP, bringing a greater return on investment.
“The company’s investment of time and energy into the project so that the industrialization of SKOP could be realized made a real difference.”
Cyrille Lecroq – CEO of WeMed
Global Impact in a Time of Need
“When it comes to high-demand products like medical devices, speed is essential, and our groundbreaking technology is helping to bridge the gap by providing these ultrafast capabilities,” explained Avi Reichental, CEO of Nexa3D. “Our access to global suppliers enabled us to customize and tailor materials for SKOP and it was extremely rewarding to see WeMed’s revolutionary designs and our technical advantages come together.”
SKOP is now CE certified, has obtained marketing authorization in Canada and is in the process of obtaining authorization from the USA. The SKOP responds to a global medical issue — its reach is international and the production volumes Third provides using the NXE 400 must be able to keep up.
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