FDA Grant for Southwest Pediatric Device Consortium to Fuel Medical Innovation in San Antonio and Austin Regions

SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The San Antonio/Austin hub of the Southwest Pediatric Device Consortium (SWPDC) today announced it is actively looking for projects for investment and resource support. The non-profit consortium, one of five nationwide, recently received a $6.75 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide critical support and resources needed to foster the development of safe and effective pediatric-specific medical devices.

The San Antonio/Austin hub is comprised of The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio, InCube Labs, Southwest Research Institute and VelocityTX, each with an area of specialization to support pediatric device innovators with product and technology acceleration services and business acceleration services. Specific areas of expertise provided to both potential and selected projects include advising on issues related to: intellectual property, engineering design, prototyping, and laboratory testing, grant-writing, unmet clinical needs assessment and clinical trial design.

This hub is led by InCube Labs San Antonio and will coordinate closely with the central hub of SWPDC led by Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) led by Dr. Chester Koh M.D. of Houston and Texas A&M University’s co-lead Dr. Balakrishna Haridas.

Dr. Koh noted that “this hub will recruit unique and promising pediatric device projects from the San Antonio region to the SWPDC portfolio.”

Dr. Haridas said that “Texas Children’s Hospital and the Baylor College of Medicine and Texas A&M are excited about the rapidly growing medtech ecosystem in San Antonio and look forward to working closely with the region to enable clinical translation and improved outcomes for pediatric patients.”

The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio will offer a much-needed clinical perspective on the practical needs for children and their caregivers. InCube Labs brings expertise in product development, bringing a product to market and patent guidance. The multi-disciplinary technical experience and resources of Southwest Research Institute will greatly benefit projects that may need technology development performed under FDA requirements. VelocityTX offers resources such as physical space, follow-on financing from investors and identifying business leadership, mentors and partners to help the project maintain its forward momentum after consortium support ends.

“We are shining a light on the need for pediatric-specific medical devices and the FDA’s grant is a great first step to tackling the issue,” said Pratap Khanwilkar, Ph.D., member of the SWPDC steering committee and vice president of product development at InCube Labs. “The consortium wants to attract new ideas and promote the development of new pediatric 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.”

The SWPDC is accepting ideas for projects and interested parties can contact the organization via a form on the website’s Contact page or by emailing SouthWestPDC@bcm.edu.

Additional resources:
About SWPDC
http://swpdc.org/overview/

About the FDA Pediatric Device Consortia (PDC) Grants Program
https://www.fda.gov/ForIndustry/DevelopingProductsforRareDiseasesConditions/PediatricDeviceConsortiaGrantsProgram/default.htm

Media Contacts:
Lindsey Fox for the Southwest Pediatric Device Consortium
832-824-2040
lbfox@texaschildrens.org

Pratap Khanwilkar for the San Antonio/Austin hub
210-360-1696
pratap@incubelabs.com

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SOURCE Southwest Pediatric Device Consortium