Evolution in the healthcare industry is happening rapidly, driven primarily by innovations in technology. However, while global progress in avant-garde areas such as telemedicine, robotics surgeries, advanced pharmaceuticals, medical tourism and other areas have attracted billions of dollars to global health care, the Caribbean has been struggling to synergise the medical profession with entrepreneurship, innovation and technology.

One advancement that has not yet caught on in the region is the needle-free injection system, which delivers a tiny, high-pressure jet of medicine through the skin without the use of a hypodermic needle.

Researchers say that among other benefits, the technology may help reduce the potential for needle-stick injuries, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that hospital-based health care workers accidentally prick themselves with needles 385,000 times each year. A needleless device may also help improve compliance among patients who might otherwise avoid the discomfort of regularly injecting themselves with drugs such as insulin.

Needle-free injection technology is among topics to be covered at the upcoming staging of the Destination Experience Visionaries’ Summit to be held from April 4 — 6 at the Spanish Court Hotel.

Speaking on the subject matter will be Michael Wright, president and CEO of InoLife Sciences Inc, an emerging Toronto-based life sciences company and innovation leader in comprehensive needle-free injection solutions. Wright is also a Managing Partner in N3GU Investments, an investment firm resulting from the merger of three family offices.

His InoLife Sciences organisation is a rising specialty medical device company focused on developing and commercialising novel drug delivery technologies. It commercialises patented and FDA-cleared needle-free injection devices and was founded to take advantage of novel techniques of liquid jet and ballistics-based epidermal drug injection that improve patients’ quality of life by making medicines easier to administer, work better, and remove the anxiety and inconvenience associated with hypodermic needle injections.

The company’s needle-free technology is of particular utility in Jamaica’s under-resourced public healthcare system and offers a unique means of extending the shelf-life of vaccines and providing a means of servicing our high burden of patients with insulin-dependent diabetes.

Their devices are also ideal for a broad spectrum of uses, such as dental anaesthesia, vaccination, autoimmune disease, erectile dysfunction, cancer, growth hormone, cosmetics, and veterinary.

Wright joins a number of other featured speakers at the Visionaries’ Summit including Ann-Marie Campbell, Jamaican-born Executive Vice- president for homeware and hardware retailer Home Depot Inc; Lord Michael Hastings, Global Head of Citizenship at accounting/consulting giant KPMG; former General Electric Advanced Materials CEO, Wayne Hewett; Peter Blair Henry – Dean Emiritus at NYU’s Stern School of Business, also Jamaican-born and a board member of Citigroup and Nike; Wisynco Group CEO Andrew Mahfood; Jamaica Producers Group CEO Jeffrey Hall and Musson group chairman (and CEO), PB Scott.

The event aims to continue helping with moving the needle on innovation in health care and to elevate the image of the Caribbean as a business destination, driving entrepreneurship, investments, partnerships and technology-driven innovation within the market.

This year the summit will be held under the theme ‘Capitalism, Inclusiveness, and Innovation in The Fourth Industrial Revolution’, and will uncover trending globally relevant subject matter aimed at promoting increased innovation and technology use in business.