The National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation recently recognized five pediatric orthopedic devices that could improve scoliosis treatment, clubfoot assessment and surgical imaging.
The five winners of the NCC-PDI’s “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition — announced May 1 — will each receive $50,000 in grant funding and access to the consortium’s Pediatric Device Innovator Accelerator Program led by MedTech Innovator.
Business, healthcare, regulatory and legal experts selected the five winners based on clinical significance and commercial feasibility of their medical devices for children. The competition focused on pediatric orthopedics and spine this year because FDA considers the specialty underserved and in need of innovation, according to the NCC-PDI.
Orthopedic surgeons are out of tools when it comes to medical devices meant for pediatrics, according to Kolaleh Eskandanian, PhD, VP and chief innovation officer at Children’s National Medical Center and principal investigator of NCC-PDI.
“Their toolbox only consists of adult devices that they have to use off-label and modify for use with children. Children are not small adults, and their bones are very different. Children are rapidly growing and as such their bones are more elastic,” Eskandanian told Medical Design & Outsourcing in statements shared via email.
This was NCC-PDI’s eighth competition in six years. The consortium plans to hold the ninth competition this fall, with a focus on NICU. Including the latest crop of winners, the consortium has supported 94 pediatric medical devices and helped five companies receive FDA or CE mark clearance.
Read on to find out about the five pediatric orthopedic device winners:
