Finalists Announced for Annual MedTech Industry $500K Competition
MedTech Innovator also reveals six companies that will compete for Execution Award
LOS ANGELES, September 19, 2017 – MedTech Innovator, the industry’s nonprofit global competition and accelerator, today announced that Abreos Biosciences, Allotrope Medical, Day Zero Diagnostics, and Selio Medical will present in its competition finals for the vote of the audience of industry leaders in San Jose, Calif., at The MedTech Conference powered by AdvaMed.
These four companies are developing medical technology innovations in precision therapeutic dosing, next-generation surgical tools and systems, and in vitro diagnostics:
- Abreos Biosciences is pioneering laboratory and point-of-care tests for precision dosing of biologic drugs, minimizing unnecessary costs by ensuring that patients are only taking as much of these expensive drugs as they need. It is based in San Diego.
- Allotrope Medical is developing a handheld device that uses electrical stimulation for ureter identification during surgery to improve patient outcomes, shorten operating room time, and decrease complications. The company is located in Houston.
- Day Zero Diagnostics combines genome sequencing and machine learning to combat antimicrobial resistant infections, enabling physicians to switch from broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy to a targeted antibiotic in hours rather than days. It is based in Boston.
- Selio Medical has a novel technology to eliminate pneumothorax – a common, costly, and dangerous complication of lung biopsy – preventing significant patient morbidity and expensive hospital admissions. The company’s headquarters is in Dublin, Ireland.
During the competition finals, which will be held as a conference plenary session at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26, each company will have seven minutes to pitch its technology and answer questions from a panel of four judges. At the conclusion of the presentations, the audience of more than 1,400 will vote in real time to select the winners. The first-place startup will take home a $350,000 non-dilutive cash prize. The remaining three companies receive smaller cash prizes. In total, more than $500,000 in prizes will be awarded.
The judges are Renee Compton Ryan, Vice President, Johnson & Johnson; Anne E. Sissel, Vice President, Baxter Ventures; Albert A. Lauritano, Director, BD; and Amy Belt Raimundo, Managing Director, Kaiser Permanente Ventures.
“In five years of the MedTech Innovator competition, we’ve never had a tougher time deciding the four companies that would go on to the finals, and the audience at The MedTech Conference is going to be equally impressed,” said Paul Grand, MedTech Innovator CEO. “Regardless of who wins, I can’t wait to see these technologies in the hands of physicians, improving the lives of patients around the world.”
MedTech Innovator also is pleased to once again present its Execution Award in conjunction with AdvaMed Accel’s Virginia Shimer Rybski Memorial Award, which recognizes the potential of a promising entrepreneur or entrepreneurial medical technology company. The six companies that will compete on Monday, Sept. 25, are Arterys, ExplORer Surgical, Nanowear, NovaGray, Osso VR, and VerteCore. The winner of the Execution Award competition will receive a $25,000 cash prize and a one-year AdvaMed membership.
Judges for the Execution competition are Jennifer Kozak, Vice President, Johnson & Johnson; Christos Monovoukas, Vice President, Olympus; Janis Naeve, Managing Director, Amgen Ventures; and Jordan Tuttle, Vice President, BTG.
Nearly 600 companies applied to MedTech Innovator’s 2017 competition, which opened in January. With the assistance of a highly engaged network of industry leaders and other healthcare stakeholders, MedTech Innovator narrowed down the group to the Top 100, who presented at one of 11 pitch events around the United States and in Dublin, Ireland, then to the 50 companies that will participate in the MedTech Innovator Showcase on Sept. 26 and 27. Finally, 20 companies were selected to participate in the four-month Accelerator – each of the four Finalist companies and the Execution Award competitors was a part of this elite group.
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About MedTech Innovator
MedTech Innovator is the industry’s nonprofit global competition and accelerator for medical device, digital health and diagnostic companies. Our mission is to improve the lives of patients by accelerating the growth of companies that are transforming the healthcare system. MedTech Innovator 2017 features 100 companies that address one or more of the transformative themes identified in an annual survey of leading manufacturers and providers.
To learn more about MedTech Innovator, visit https://medtechinnovator.org/ and follow @MedTechAwards on Twitter.
Media Contact:
Ashley McMaster
(770) 262-0729
ashley@medtechinnovator.org
