The San Antonio/Austin hub of the Southwest Pediatric Device Consortium (SWPDC) is set to form new alliances in a bid to offer investment and resource support for the development of new paediatric devices.
The hub comprises Children’s Hospital of San Antonio, InCube Labs, Southwest Research Institute and VelocityTX with expertise in product and technology, and business acceleration services to cater to paediatric device innovators.
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Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) awarded a $6.75m five-year grant to support the Pediatric Device Consortia (PDC) programme focused on specific devices for children.
The hub is one of the PDC recipients and intends to use the funds to support ‘unique and promising paediatric device projects’.
It will offer advice on issues associated with intellectual property, engineering design, prototyping, laboratory testing, grant-writing, analysis of unmet clinical needs and clinical trial design.
InCube Labs will lead the hub, which will work in partnership with the central hub of SWPDC led by Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH), Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and Texas A&M University.
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By GlobalDataInCube Labs product development vice-president Pratap Khanwilkar said: “We are shining a light on the need for paediatric-specific medical devices and the FDA’s grant is a great first step to tackling the issue.
“The consortium wants to attract new ideas and promote the development of new paediatric devices by providing device innovators the initial funding and mentorship they need to develop a solution, build and test a prototype and eventually bring the device to children around the world.”
For the selected projects, the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio will provide a clinical perspective on the practical needs of children and their caregivers.
InCube Labs will support via expertise in product development, while the Southwest Research Institute offers technical experience and resources.
VelocityTX will provide additional resources such as physical space, follow-on financing from investors, and partners to support the project after consortium support ends.
