The funds will help awardees bring their devices to the market and improve care for children with heart conditions.

 Summary: Six pediatric cardiology innovators have each been awarded $50,000 grants in the “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition, presented by the Alliance for Pediatric Device Innovation. These funds, along with access to support services and technical expertise, will help the awardees bring their devices to market and improve care for children with heart conditions. The winning innovations include noninvasive monitoring tools and a pediatric stent. This initiative addresses the unmet need for pediatric heart devices, aiming to enhance care for children born annually with congenital heart defects.

Key Takeaways:

  1. Funding for Innovation: Six pediatric heart device innovators received $50,000 grants to accelerate the development of their technologies aimed at improving care for children with heart conditions.
  2. Device Focus Areas: The awarded devices include autonomous ultrasound, noninvasive blood pressure and oxygen monitoring, and a pediatric-specific stent, addressing gaps in pediatric cardiology.
  3. Collaborative Support: In addition to the funding, awardees gain access to wraparound services from the Alliance for Pediatric Device Innovation, aiding in the commercialization and regulatory processes.

Six medical technology innovators focused on pediatric cardiology were selected to receive grants of $50,000 each in the “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition in Toronto. 

The funds will help awardees bring their devices to the market and improve care for children with heart conditions.  

The awardees, selected from a highly competitive field of 10 finalists, are:   

  • Bloom Standard, Minneapolis—Autonomous, hands-free ultrasound 
  • Compremium AG, Bern, Switzerland—Noninvasive central venous pressure estimation for pediatric patients 
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass—Polymeric auxetic stent to treat pediatric aortic coarctation 
  • OxiWear, Arlington, Va—Home measurement of oxygen levels in pediatric congenital heart disease 
  • PyrAmes Inc., Cupertino, Calif—Improved, wearable, noninvasive pediatric blood pressure monitor 
  • Sibel Health, Chicago—Hospital-to-home monitoring for pediatric heart conditions 

The competition is presented by the Alliance for Pediatric Device Innovation, a nonprofit consortium led by Children’s National Hospital and funded through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Additional Ventures, a nonprofit focused on accelerating research progress and improving clinical care for individuals born with single ventricle heart defects. 

Along with grant funding, awardees gain access to support services and technical expertise provided by Alliance for Pediatric Device Innovation and Additional Ventures in areas that include engineering, regulatory, reimbursement, clinical trials study design, and data science services.  

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 40,000 children are born annually with a congenital heart defect. Children with heart conditions need medical devices tailored to their specific physiological needs. There is a significant unmet need for pediatric devices designed to monitor and treat young patients effectively in cardiology, interventional cardiology, cardiac surgery, and electrophysiology. 

This competitive grant program is designed to identify and support the development and commercialization of devices addressing these needs.  

“Congratulations to our awardees, whose innovative technologies show great promise in advancing care for pediatric heart patients,” says Kolaleh Eskandanian, PhD, MBA, vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National and Alliance for Pediatric Device Innovation program director and principal investigator, in a release. “We are thrilled to welcome this new cohort into our pediatric device accelerator, where they will have the opportunity to collaborate with clinician-scientists at Children’s National and connect to Additional Ventures’ network. 

“Along with these collaborations, the awardees will benefit from a full range of [Alliance for Pediatric Device Innovation] wraparound services designed to support the development of devices specifically for pediatric patients, helping them navigate the complex path to market.” 

2024 Symposium

The competition was held in conjunction with the 12th Annual Symposium on Pediatric Device Innovation, presented by Children’s National and co-located with The MedTech Conference powered by AdvaMed. Focused on transforming pediatric care with exclusive innovations for children, this year’s symposium featured panel discussions and keynote presentations with leading experts in pediatrics and medical technology to exchange information and ideas on critical issues in pediatric device development and pediatric healthcare innovation gaps.  

“Additional Ventures is thrilled to support this new class of innovators whose products will make a profound impact in the management and care of pediatric heart patients,” says Additional Ventures CEO Kristie Keller, PhD, in a release “We welcome them to our growing community of inventors, researchers, and clinicians, and we look forward to working together with our awarded teams and [Alliance for Pediatric Device Innovation] to bring these products to market.” 

Alliance for Pediatric Device Innovation is one of five nonprofit consortia in the FDA’s Pediatric Device Consortia grant program. It receives funding to provide a platform of services, expertise, and grants that support pediatric innovators in bringing medical devices to the market that specifically address the unmet needs of children. 

Led by Children’s National, Alliance for Pediatric Device Innovation partners include Johns Hopkins University, CIMIT at Mass General Brigham, Tufts Medical Center, MedStar Health Research Institute, MedTech Color, and OrthoPediatrics Corp. 

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