dave27
11-23-2002, 01:49 AM
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3005621&thesection=news&thesubsection=world
GAITHERSBURG - A wheelchair that can climb stairs and lift users to normal height while balancing on two wheels won the backing of a United States advisory panel yesterday.
The advisers unanimously urged the Food and Drug Administration to approve the wheelchair for sale in the US. The chair, called the iBOT, was conceived by prolific millionaire inventor Dean Kamen. It will be marketed by Johnson & Johnson. The FDA usually follows its panels' advice.
more
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/4569074.htm
The FDA isn't bound by its advisers' recommendations, but it usually follows them, and it granted iBOT a fast-track review reserved for important medical technology, meaning a decision could come in a few months.
more
http://www.wset.com/showstory.hrb?f=n&s=63726&f1=loc
To prove iBOT works, 20 wheelchair users test-drove it for two weeks, allowing scientists to compare maneuverability, falls or other problems with their regular wheelchairs. They also took a road test, scooting up hills and over bumpy sidewalks, crossing curbs, reaching shelves and climbing stairs.
The patients performed most of the challenges more easily with the iBOT, said study leader Dr. Heikki Uustal of New Jersey's Johnson Rehabilitation Institute. For example, everyone had to ask for help to reach a book atop a bookcase while in their own chairs, but merely pushed a button on the iBOT to slowly rise and reach it themselves.
Twelve patients could navigate stairs alone with the iBOT, while the rest used an assistant. In regular wheelchairs, two patients could literally bump their way down stairs, but no one could go up a single step.
Three people fell out of the iBOT and two fell out of their own wheelchairs during the study, suggesting the iBOT was as safe as today's technology.
"I wanted to take it home and keep it," said Karl Barnard of Tilton, N.H., who tested the iBOT in a study required by the FDA, which regulates wheelchair safety.
In the iBOT, he rose to the height of a 6-foot-tall person to do his grocery shopping without help.
But with a predicted $29,000 price tag, Barnard, 46, calls it "more a luxury item" that he probably wouldn't spring for until he's too old to push his manual wheelchair easily. The chairs will be manufactured by Independence Technology, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary.
-dave
GAITHERSBURG - A wheelchair that can climb stairs and lift users to normal height while balancing on two wheels won the backing of a United States advisory panel yesterday.
The advisers unanimously urged the Food and Drug Administration to approve the wheelchair for sale in the US. The chair, called the iBOT, was conceived by prolific millionaire inventor Dean Kamen. It will be marketed by Johnson & Johnson. The FDA usually follows its panels' advice.
more
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/4569074.htm
The FDA isn't bound by its advisers' recommendations, but it usually follows them, and it granted iBOT a fast-track review reserved for important medical technology, meaning a decision could come in a few months.
more
http://www.wset.com/showstory.hrb?f=n&s=63726&f1=loc
To prove iBOT works, 20 wheelchair users test-drove it for two weeks, allowing scientists to compare maneuverability, falls or other problems with their regular wheelchairs. They also took a road test, scooting up hills and over bumpy sidewalks, crossing curbs, reaching shelves and climbing stairs.
The patients performed most of the challenges more easily with the iBOT, said study leader Dr. Heikki Uustal of New Jersey's Johnson Rehabilitation Institute. For example, everyone had to ask for help to reach a book atop a bookcase while in their own chairs, but merely pushed a button on the iBOT to slowly rise and reach it themselves.
Twelve patients could navigate stairs alone with the iBOT, while the rest used an assistant. In regular wheelchairs, two patients could literally bump their way down stairs, but no one could go up a single step.
Three people fell out of the iBOT and two fell out of their own wheelchairs during the study, suggesting the iBOT was as safe as today's technology.
"I wanted to take it home and keep it," said Karl Barnard of Tilton, N.H., who tested the iBOT in a study required by the FDA, which regulates wheelchair safety.
In the iBOT, he rose to the height of a 6-foot-tall person to do his grocery shopping without help.
But with a predicted $29,000 price tag, Barnard, 46, calls it "more a luxury item" that he probably wouldn't spring for until he's too old to push his manual wheelchair easily. The chairs will be manufactured by Independence Technology, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary.
-dave