Case Study: META tool pilots with Rescape Innovation

What did we do?

As part of a pilot of the Health Technology Wales (HTW) Scientific Advice Service, we undertook a consultation with a company that requested an assessment, Rescape Innovation.

The HTW Scientific Advice Service aimed to increase awareness of the process and requirements of health technology assessment (HTA) for Rescape Innovation. It particularly focused on the clinical and health economic evidence required to demonstrate that a new technology offers value to patients and healthcare systems.

The service used the Medtech Early Technical Assessment (META) tool developed by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE). The META tool is an online platform to help health technology developers optimise their plans. It provided a structured framework to help identify potential gaps in a product’s evidence base or evidence collection plans.

Who with?

Scientific advice was offered to Rescape Innovation, a company based in Cardiff. They’re developing DR.VR, a virtual reality distraction therapy solution to support pain relief, anxiety and stress. It aims to improve patient experience and can be used pre-treatment, during or post-treatment.

What were the reactions?

Rescape Innovation found the process to be very useful and informative. In addition to the specific areas raised through the structured META tool assessment, Rescape Innovation found it useful to discuss evidence requirements and HTA processes more generally.

What did people learn?

Key areas discussed included the need for CE marking for products with a medical application and the requirement to demonstrate the health economic implications of using the DR.VR system.

Matt Wordley, CEO of Rescape Innovation, said: “The HTW team running the META study were able to give us an insightful and impartial view on potential gaps and strategies and help identify what was required to further the product through to commercialisation at scale.”

What difference did this make?

The discussions around the current evidence base highlighted areas for future development. Rescape Innovation are now better informed and in a better position to address this in their research.

Matt Wordley said: “Undertaking the META study created an opportunity to take a step back from our product development and see if we could articulate what we had created, the process we had undertaken and evidence we had gathered so far.”