US Company Announces Combination Product Award

ISSAC Medical, which is the parent of contract manufacturer Innovative Surgical Products (Tustin, CA, USA) and Specialty Silicone Fabricators (Paso Robles, CA, USA), has announced that it will award US$10,000 to an individual or a group that best demonstrates innovation in the field of combination products. “There is good work being done in the realm of combination-product research and we want to encourage innovation in that area,” says Mark Paulsen, director of new business development at ISSAC Medical and former director of NuSil (Carpinteria, CA, USA). “After investigating a number of ways to become involved with the advances being made in combination product research, we decided to sponsor a cash prize.”

Two types of applicants are eligible for ISSAC Medical’s AIA Award: university researchers and researchers from start-up companies employing less than 25 people. To enter the contest, applicants must submit a two-sentence description on their research by 21 December. Products entered in the contest cannot be commercialized at the time of application. Entries can be submitted by contacting Paulsen. “By 1 May of 2009, we’re going to ask for more information from applicants so that we can judge the product.” Text descriptions, sketches, product samples, and so forth can be submitted for this purpose. The results of the contest will be announced in June of 2009.

“We’re working on putting a panel of judges together now,” Paulsen says. The number of judges on the panel is yet to be determined, but there will be at least three. “We are making overtures to US FDA to see if they would consider being on the panel.” The company is also looking to academia and industry to find judges. “What kind of criteria the judges actually use also is yet to be decided, but they will pertain to the novel nature of the device.”

Beginning in July, the company began contacting the bioengineering departments at a variety of US universities to gauge interest in the competition. “Up to this point, the response has been tremendous,” says Paul Mazelin, marketing manager of Specialty Silicone Fabricators. “It’s incredible how many different projects are in the lab stage at the present time,” he adds. We have had a good response but we plan on redoubling our efforts in September after the new school year stars, Paulsen says. “We know that within the research system of universities, there is exciting research going on with silicone, which is ideal for eluting drugs.”

Tags: Breaking News, Combination Products, ISSAC Medical