Manufacturing news briefs – stories you might have missed

FDA clears Nova Eye Medical’s latest device for sale

Ophthalmic treatment device manufacturer Nova Eye Medical has announced the Food and Drug Administration has approved its iTrack Advance glaucoma surgical device for sale to surgeons in the United States. iTrack Advance is the latest product in the company’s range and is a hand held delivery system that places the iTrack microcatheter into the main drainage canal of the eye during glaucoma surgery. The iTrack system has already been used in 120,000 surgeries to reduce elevated eye pressures. Nova Eye Medical will immediately begin marketing and sales of the iTrack Advance to US ophthalmologists, with a full product launch planned for May. Nova Eye Managing Director Tom Spurling said: “Having pioneered canaloplasty technology with the original iTrack device, Nova Eye is now well positioned to materially penetrate the expanding canal surgery market with iTrack Advance.”

British Army to to but SPEE3D XSPEE3D metal additive printer

Metal additive manufacturing company SPEE3D has announced that the British Army will acquire its cold-spray metal 3D printing technology to help develop the army’s unplanned repair capabilities. In addition to purchasing the XSPEE3D printer (pictured), which was launched last year at the Australian Land Forces expo, the British Army has signed a two-year contract to work with SPEE3Dto deliver training courses, working closely with the British Army’s Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. The printer is fully transportable as a standard shipping container with the printer and all auxiliary equipment in one box and provides on-demand manufacturing, critical for deployed troops maximising availability and minimising downtime. With SPEE3D technology, parts can be manufactured and finished in just hours instead of days for any vehicle and platform, from a wide range of materials, including aluminium 6061, aluminium bronze, and copper.

Altech Batteries moves ahead with German battery design and manufacture

Australian listed Altech Batteries’ joint venture with Germany’s Fraunhofer institutes has launched its CERENERGY Sodium Alumina Solid State 1 MWh GridPack batteries destined for the renewable energy and grid storage markets. Sodium alumina batteries utilise table salt, are non-flammable and have a lifespan of 15 years, even in extreme cold and hot climates. The company launched a pre-installed GridPack solution (pictured) featuring a sea container design each of which contains 20 60KWh battery packs installed and connected to a power pack management system. They can be installed in series to achieve the required rating of several thousand KWs for grid functioning, according to an announcement from Managing Director Iggy Tan. Altech’s JV will commercialise a 100MWh battery project on company land in Schwarz Pumpe, Germany.

New figures show demand for minerals for low-emissions technology

The March 2023 Resources and Energy Quarterly (REQ) publication from the Department of Industry, Science and Resources forecasts lithium and base metal products to earn around $47 billion in the current financial year. On Monday the federal minister for resources, Madeleine King, said the forecast value of lithium exports had tripled since last year and was set to reach $19 billion in 2022-23. “Base metals and critical minerals such as lithium are crucial components of clean-energy technologies such as batteries, solar panels and wind turbines, which will help the world lower emissions and meet net-zero commitments,” said King. Among findings were that exports of lithium and base metals (and their raw material inputs) will equal the export value of combined (thermal and metallurgical) coal exports by 2027-28, though export earnings are forecast to ease to $395 billion in 2023-24, and $346 billion in 2024-25 as prices normalise. The report is available here.

Vow makes meatball of extinct animal

Sydney start up business Vow has made meatball from DNA extracted from the extinct woolly mammoth. The company unveiled its latest meat grown from animal cells in Amsterdam at a conference, Food Futurism. The company genetically engineered the product by combining mammoth DNA and African elephant DNA, the animal’s closest living relative. Accowding to Vow: “When we said big things were coming from Vow, we meant BIG, like mammoth big…In collaboration with Wunderman Thompson, we want to start a bigger conversation on what the future of food looks like, and how cultured meat can play an important and exciting role in revolutionising the way we eat. At Vow, our mission is to invent entirely new meats that meat eaters choose selfishly and we’re just getting started.”

Small business advisory providers announced

Providers for Round 2 of the Digital Solutions – Australian Small Business Advisory Services Program were announced on Monday morning. Each Digital Solutions provider will lead the delivery of services in an exclusive area: Realise Business in New South Wales and the ACT; Business Foundations in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory; and Darebin Enterprise Centre in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Federal small business minister Julie Collins, said small companies across the nation can access these services, regardless of where they’re located, and that digital opportunities were a focus. “Digitalisation is the key to unlocking productivity gains, creating efficiencies and better connecting small businesses with their customers,” said Collins. Over 45,000 enterprises participated under Round 1.

Value Add Investment Grants announced for ten WA businesses

The Western Australian government announced round two of its Value Add Investment Grants on Saturday, with ten agrifood and beverage processing businesses allocated a total of $6.3 million. According to a statement on Friday, the grants would attract more than $60 million in investment from the businesses to drive expansion and resilience, and enable processors and manufacturers “to overcome supply chain challenges, reduce reliance on imported and interstate processed products, and capture value adding opportunities.” Companies in the round included Good Drinks Australia, awarded $750,000 to install two additional fermentation tanks to expand production capacity, DCB Australia, awarded $750,000 to upgrade solar power system and technologies to amalgamate two smallgoods factory locations, and Homestyle Vegetable Processors, awarded $603,796 to implement an automated processing line to increase processing output. More information on the program is available here.

Firebrick concludes recruitment for Phase 2 trial

Firebrick Pharma has announced that its Phase 2 COVID-19 trial of Nasodine Nasal Spray has closed for recruitment. Nasal swabs collected from all subjects have been forwarded to a specialist virology laboratory in the Netherlands for viral culture analysis, which will determine the results on the trial’s primary endpoint, the company told the ASX on Monday. These results are expected to be available in June 2023. The trial commenced in April 2022 at five clinical sites in South Africa, and is a randomised, controlled Phase 2 study to assess the extent to which frequent daily Nasodine application can stop or reduce shedding of the COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) in patients with early COVID-19 symptoms. “This frequent dosing was designed to definitively assess the potential for Nasodine to rapidly eliminate the SARS-CoV-2 virus from the nose, which is believed to be the primary site of infection and shedding,” said Firebrick Executive Chairman, Dr Peter Molloy. “In addition, we hope the study results will support the safe use of more frequent dosing of Nasodine.” The trial was originally intended to enrol up to 210 subjects but was abridged to 39 due to the ongoing very low numbers of new cases of COVID-19 in South Africa.

Picture: Altech Batteries/Altech 1 MWh GridPack batteries