In 1984 Vladimir Feingold quit his job, sold his house and car, and began developing an insulin infusion pump in his garage. The pump could slowly and automatically inject insulin into a diabetic person. In 1986 the pump prototype was tested on an orang-outang, but it was too late! Other insulin pumps were already on the market.

Feingold changed the concept and technology so the pump could deliver morphine to manage pain without injections. He started the Bionica company in 1987, when 18 pumps were tested at Sydney's Westmead Hospital.

In 1992 Bionica released a new pump that patients could carry in their pockets while it slowly infused drugs into their blood. They could adjust the rate to their changing needs and go about life as normally as possible. Many people could leave hospital and return to work because they no longer relied on staff to give them regular injections of pain-killers.

This portable system for drug infusion was developed from 1984-1992 by Australian company Bionica Pty Ltd . The company was founded in 1987.

Injection moulded thermoplastics are used for the case. Tooling for the case cost $180,000 , so all models have the same basic case shape. The only parts made overseas were the motor (Swiss), the processor (Japanese), and the display window (Taiwanese). The most expensive part is the drive shaft, made in Australia at a cost of $120. Assembled pumps were extensively tested to ensure accuracy and in 1993 1,000 pumps had been exported to the USA.

The Bionica portable drug infusion pump was designed, developed, built and serviced in Australia. It won an Australian Design Award in 1992, with the additional accolade of the Powerhouse Museum Selection. The prototypes document the design process. Bionica holds a patent on the 'runaway protection' feature, which prevents overdosing. The Bionica PCA pump represents an innovation in recognising a new market opportunity. During development, it was found that the proposed market was already well-supplied, so different niches were targeted.

Patient Controlled Analgesia arose from the philosophy among a group of doctors that while there was pain present, and it was being counteracted by morphine, the morphine would not become addictive. This change in philosophy shifted the emphasis for the administering of morphine from a set dose dictated by the doctor, to the situation where the patient can be administered a steady 'drip-feed', and can deliver an additional bolus when pain increases.

Ambulatory drug infusion pump and material of manufacture, test model, plastic/metal, Bionica Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia, c. 1986

-1 Third prototype, block of navy blue teflon based plastic machined to form half of 3rd prototype
- 2 working pump, machined from 2 blocks of blue plastic, numbered 11074 in handwriting on the front

Made: 1981 - 1991

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1981 - 1991