Ohio Third Frontier commissioners made a slew of biomedical grants under two programs today.
Recommended for more than $4.9 million under the Ohio Third Frontier Biomedical Program:
— CardioX Corp., Dublin, in collaboration with Nottingham-Spirk Design Associates in Cleveland and QTest Labs in Columbus, was awarded $986,373 to finalize designs and clinical protocols for a new method of detecting holes in the heart.
Behavioral Health, Interoperability and eConsent: Meeting the Demands of CMS Final Rule Compliance
In a webinar on April 16 at 1pm ET, Aneesh Chopra will moderate a discussion with executives from DocuSign, Velatura, and behavioral health providers on eConsent, health information exchange and compliance with the CMS Final Rule on interoperability.
— Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, in collaboration with Athersys Inc., also in Cleveland, was awarded $1 million to advance the preclinical stage use of Athersys’ adult stem cell product, MultiStem, to regenerate nerves damaged through spinal cord injuries.
— Lanx Inc., Broomfield, Colo., in collaboration with Ohio State University and OrthoNeuro in Columbus, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio Spine Network in Brecksville, American Medical Management, KB Medical and RBK Spine LLC, was awarded $1 million to form an Ohio division in Columbus to finalize the design and commercialization of a device to measure range of lumbar motion in patients with back injuries.
— OrthoHelix Surgical Designs Inc., Medina, in collaboration with Hudak, Shunk & Farine Co. LPA and Orthopedic Research Laboratories, was awarded $1 million to finalize the design of a variable-angle locking technology that will be part of plating systems for foot, ankle and hand surgeries.
— SpineForm LLC, Cincinnati, in collaboration with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Reynolds Consulting and E-Prime Group, was awarded $999,250 to support clinical studies of SpineForm’s HemiBridge System, which is a treatment for progressive scoliosis.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
And recommended for more than $8.9 million under the Ohio Third Frontier Medical Imaging Program:
— CardioInsight Technologies Inc., Cleveland, in collaboration with University Hospitals Case Medical Center, the Cleveland Clinic, Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Le Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Bordeaux, Dr. Michel Haissaguerre and Draper Triangle Ventures in Pittsburgh, was awarded $1 million to commercialize its breakthrough technology for the imaging of electrical activity on the surface of the heart.
— EXCMR Ltd., Columbus, in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Christ Hospital, Ohio State University, Quality Electrodynamics in Mayfield, Siemens Medical Solutions, Heart Imaging Technologies and Zukun Plan, was awarded $1,424,694 to support clinical testing and refinement of technology to improve cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) under stress conditions.
— GE Healthcare Technologies, Aurora, in collaboration with Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center and Ohio State’s Davis Heart and Lung Institute, was awarded $1 million to develop new MRI coils for use with pediatric patients.
— InfraRed Imaging Systems Inc., Bethlehem, Pa., in collaboration with Astro Manufacturing & Design in Eastlake, United Medical Products and Entrotech, was awarded $812,000 to move engineering and manufacturing of the VascularViewer — a technology that enables healthcare providers to better see veins for needle or catheter insertion — to Ohio from California.
— Neoprobe Corp. (OTCBB: NEOP), Dublin, in collaboration with Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) in Dublin, STATKING Consulting, Phylogeny Inc. in Columbus and Integrated BioScience Solutions in Loveland, was awarded $1 million to support Phase 3 clinical study and expanded claims for Lymphoseek, a biopharmaceutical that detects cancer in lymph nodes.
— Philips Healthcare, Highland Heights, in collaboration with Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Case Medical Center, was awarded $999,175 for a project to develop a PET/CT scanner to measure the amount of blood flow to the heart.
— Ohio State University, Columbus, in collaboration with Philips Healthcare, was awarded $1,740,000 for a project to develop technology that improves the image quality and resolution of ultra-high field MRIs.
— Quality Electrodynamics LLC, Mayfield, in collaboration with Case Western Reserve University and Siemens Healthcare, was awarded $1 million for its project to develop high multi-channel radio frequency coils for knee and breast imaging that are optimized for the latest generation of imaging instruments.
