Benevolent Technologies for Health (BETH), Woburn, Massachusetts, has been awarded $50,000 by the National Capital Consortium for Paediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI) competition for its prosthetic socket liner for pediatric patients. The competition is funded through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and grants totaling $250,000 were awarded to six pediatric medical device innovations that addressed a significant unmet need. Thirty-seven submissions were received; winners were chosen from 12 finalists who each made a five-minute presentation and responded to judges’ questions.
The consortium, which provides infrastructure support and expert consultation on pediatric medical device development throughout the development life cycle, concept formation, prototyping, preclinical, clinical, manufacturing, marketing, and commercialization, is led by the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at the Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, and the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland.
“In addition to funding, we will make the Sheikh Zayed Institute’s expertise available for pediatric product development and help bring these devices to children faster,” said Kolaleh Eskandanian, PhD, executive director of NCC-PDI and the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation. She added that the federal funds awarded can also be leveraged to raise the additional capital needed for full commercialization.
