Euro Vision turns Reality for Australia’s Iconic ‘Green Whistle’

Penthrox has been approved for sale in Europe, meeting a significant market need

Patients will soon benefit from a unique invention, with emergency pain killer Penthrox receiving initial regulatory approval for sale in the European and UK markets.

Australian healthcare company Medical Developments International (MDI) will use a new low-cost manufacturing process developed with CSIRO to increase their production of Penthrox's underlying drug methoxyflurane by ten-fold in order to meet this large-scale demand.  

Penthrox is made in Melbourne and has significant advantages over other analgesics such as nitrous oxide and morphine in that it is rapid, self-administered, non-addictive, non-narcotic, safe to use and provides strong pain relief.

MDI's CEO John Sharman believes that regulatory approval to sell the product in England, France, Ireland and Belgium is a company-making achievement that has opened the door to supplying it globally. 

"Hospitals, ambulances, defence forces, national sporting leagues, life savers and other emergency services have been using 'the green whistle' in Australia for more than 30 years," Mr Sharman said. 

"We believe that Penthrox offers an effective alternative to established products already used in Europe and expanding into this market has substantially increased our business overnight. 

"Our partnership with CSIRO has been integral to up-scaling our production capacity ahead of this opportunity. Together, we've come up with a new, smarter process to manufacture Penthrox."  

CSIRO and MDI have been working together for more than 15 years, having developed the initial production process together, to now vastly improving it. The technology will secure their market position as the only global manufacturer of methoxyflurane.

"It's through long-term research collaborations that we can help forward-thinking businesses like MDI jump on new opportunities and remain globally competitive," CSIRO's biomedical research program director Dr Paul Savage said. 

"Our goal is to develop new or improved high value products and smarter, more efficient processes that establish local companies as world leaders in their respective markets." 

CSIRO invested $750,000 in MDI’s technology development through its Australian Growth Partnership (AGP) program, which awards innovative Australian small and medium businesses with access to the organisation’s world-class research and facilities to significantly grow their business. 

Penthrox is sold in 11 countries around the world with regulatory applications pending approval in another 13 countries.

Every year, CSIRO works with more than 1000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and over 100 biomedical companies.