07 Jan 2008
Touch Bionics, developer of the world's first commercially available bionic hand, today had its leading-edge development and manufacturing facility in Livingston, Scotland, officially opened by Rt. Hon Stephen Timms MP, Minister of State for Competitiveness and David Cairns MP, Minister of State Scotland Office.
The new facility allows Touch Bionics to bring its manufacturing operations in-house, giving the company greater control over the production output of its business and the ability to support increased demand for its i-LIMB Hand product. The facility also includes patient-fitting areas, which gives patients from countries where the hand is not currently available important access to Touch Bionics' prosthetists.
"I am delighted to be able to open this new facility for such an exciting and innovative company," said Stephen Timms. "Touch Bionics is a fine example of UK-developed, world-leading medical technology, which is exactly the kind of area that the UK must succeed in to remain at the forefront of technology development."
Touch Bionics launched the i-LIMB Hand in July 2007, and the product has now established itself as one of the hottest devices in the world prosthetics market. The company expects that its clinical customers will have fitted more than 100 patients, from all over the world, by the end of February 2008 - representing very strong performance in such a specialist field.