Pediatric Device Consortium Holds Inaugural Pediatric Device Accelerator Pitch Competition
On Tuesday, November 14, the UCSF Pediatric Device Consortium (PDC) held its inaugural Pediatric Device Accelerator Pitch Competition at UCSF’s Mission Bay campus. The competition awarded a total of $252,500, funded by FDA’s Office of Orphan Products Development and the UCSF Department of Surgery, to teams developing novel medical devices for children.
Eight finalists, selected from a pool of 55 applicants from across the world, had just under 10 minutes to pitch their product ideas to a judges’ panel of five industry professionals: Mike Billig (CEO of Experien Group), Dan Burnett (President and CEO of TheraNova), Denise Forkey (Consultant at Denise Forkey Medical Device Development Solutions), Chris Jones (Consultant at Orb Product Development), and Russ Lindemann (Co-Founder of JustRight Surgical). The presentations, which included the pediatric clinical need, proposed technology, potential market, commercialization approach, and current development status, were followed by Q&A from the judges.
After the pitches, the judges presented prizes in increments of $50,000, $30,000 and $20,000. Top honors were awarded to InkSpace Imaging, Inc. and Auctus Surgical, Inc. InkSpace Imaging is a UC Berkeley spinout developing printed flexible MRI coils to overcome the barriers of long exam times, the need for anesthesia, and bulkiness of current MRI machines, which currently limit the use of MRI in children. Auctus Surgical, a San Francisco startup that reunites the team from CoAlign Innovations, acquired by Stryker in 2014, aims to improve outcomes for children with scoliosis with their flexible spinal tethering system that uses magnetically actuated spools for additional tensioning.
Awards at the $30,000 level went to Shape Change Technologies, LLC, of Thousand Oaks, CA; Certus Critical Care, Inc., a UC Davis spinout; and UCSF’s Tabla project, led by medical student Adam Rao. Thorn Tech, LLC, of Castro Valley, Boston Children’s Hospital, and UNYQ of San Francisco each won $20,000 to develop their projects over the next year. Tabla, a handheld device used to detect pneumonia, also received the People’s Choice Award, a $2,500 prize sponsored by the UCSF Department of Surgery based on audience votes. In addition to funding, the finalists will receive advising from the UCSF PDC, including clinical and technical feedback, regulatory assistance, and commercialization coaching, in order to help drive their device ideas towards market availability for patient benefit.
The Pediatric Device Accelerator supplements the ongoing work of the UCSF PDC, which is led by UCSF Professors Michael Harrison, MD, and Shuvo Roy, PhD. The consortium is one of seven FDA-funded programs across the U.S. working to stimulate pediatric medical device innovation and development. Since 2009, the UCSF PDC has assisted over 85 projects through its twice-weekly innovators’ forum, network of experts, and training opportunities. For UCSF projects alone, the PDC’s support has resulted in 11 clinical trials of novel device technologies conducted at UCSF, $29.5 million in follow-on funding for projects, and the launch of nine startups.
For more information, please visit www.pediatricdeviceconsortium.org or contact Stacy Kim at [email protected].