Five Finalists of Annual Pediatric Medical Device Competition Announced

“Addressing unmet needs across pediatric populations is critical to advancing children’s health, and we are delighted to once again work with pioneering companies that seek to bridge this care gap.”

Five finalists have been named in the annual “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition presented by the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI). Representing innovations in pediatric technologies that aim to address unmet medical needs for children, these five finalists now have access to a pediatric accelerator program led by MedTech Innovator and will compete for a share of $150,000 in grant funding from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the final virtual pitch event in October 2022. The pediatric pitch event is part of the 10th Annual Symposium on Pediatric Device Innovation, co-located with the MedTech Conference, powered by AdvaMed. 

“Addressing unmet needs across pediatric populations is critical to advancing children’s health, and we are delighted to once again work with pioneering companies that seek to bridge this care gap,” said Kolaleh Eskandanian, PhD, MBA, PMP, vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National Hospital and principal investigator of NCC-PDI. “As an FDA-funded consortium, NCC-PDI serves as a critical device development resource, bringing together individuals and institutions that support viable pediatric innovations and create faster pathways to commercialization. We congratulate this year’s finalists and look forward to seeing the progress made in the coming months as they navigate the accelerator program.” 

The five pediatric device innovations that judges selected for the final competition include:

  • CorInnova – Houston, TX – Minimally invasive biventricular non-blood contacting cardiac assist device to treat heart failure.
  • Innovation Lab – La Palma, CA – Mechanical elbow brace stabilizes tremors for pediatric ataxic cerebral palsy to improve the performance of Activities of Daily Living (ADLs).
  • Prapela – Biddeford, ME – Prapela’s incubator pad for the treatment of apnea of prematurity.
  • Tympanogen – Richmond, VA – Perf-Fix replaces surgical eardrum repair with a nonsurgical clinic procedure
  • Xpan – Concord, Ont. – Xpan’s universal trocar enables safest and most dynamic access and effortless upsizing in conventional/mini/robotic procedures.

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