VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has invested €3.4 million ($3.7 million) to open a pilot line environment in Finland for medical devices. The investment into the line, to be located in Oulu, provides a state-of-the-art cleanroom and manufacturing equipment to help accelerate the market entry of innovative medical technologies. The facility enables the production of small and middle-size prototype series of advanced electronic, photonic, microelectronic and microfluidic components, in addition to integration technologies. These technologies enable the development of comfortable-to-wear, skin-like wearable sensors for continuous monitoring of cardiovascular diseases and microfluidics biochemical sensors for ultra-sensitive cancer diagnostics, VTT said, announcing the line. A pilot line established in Oulu, Finland will allow startups and small businesses to prototype leading-edge medical technologies without committing to large scale prototyping. Courtesy of VTT. “Potentially life-saving breakthroughs are constantly made in research labs around the world, and many of them have the potential to make unpleasant health monitoring, medical examinations and procedures more patient-friendly," said Jussi Hiltunen, a research professor at VTT. "However, bringing these products to market has been a major pain point for the industry for decades due to challenges in scaling pilots and long certification processes. Key focus areas for the pilot line include preventive monitoring of cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndromes, and early cancer detection, as well as cancer recurrence. The new medical devices can, for example, continuously measure the glucose levels of patients with diabetes more comfortably or detect cancer at an early stage from the skin or at a molecular level, improving prognosis. Another important area for the pilot line is point of care diagnostics. A stretch goal for VTT is to help bring to market innovations that enable continuous and reliable measurement of the same precise parameters as blood tests, without the need for lab visits or needles. The pilot line began operating this year. Additionally, VTT will collaborate with medical device product companies and manufacturers as well as with universities and other research and healthcare organizations.