HMI’s subsidiary TGV-Dx wins prestigious pediatric medical device competition focused on COVID-19-related technologies

New York, NY – July 22, 2020) – A New-York city-based start-up TGV-Dx was selected a winner in the special COVID-19 edition of the “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition presented by FDA-sponsored National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation. The competition focused on innovations in COVID-19-related pediatric medical devices that will improve children’s health care, with 16 finalists competing in a virtual pitch event for a share of $250,000 in total grant awards. TGV-Dx received a grant award as a result of their winning presentation

TGV-Dx develops novel diagnostic test AtbFinder that might bring antibiotic therapy to a new level of efficacy by revolutionizing the way  how to select antibiotics for critically ill patients, including those with bacterial pulmonary infections.

“With AtbFinder we are dramatically rethinking how to select antibiotics for patients with pulmonary infections. AtbFinder enables the selection more effective antibiotics active even against the most hard-to-treat multidrug resistant bacteria” – said George Tetz.

For safety and efficiency, the pitch competition utilized a video conference format. The event was presented by NCC-PDI co-founders Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Hospital and the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, and powered by nonprofit accelerator and NCC-PDI member, MedTech Innovator.

TGV-Dx was one of eight winners selected by a panel of 75 expert judges from health care, business, investor and regulatory sectors. Winners were chosen based on the clinical significance and commercial feasibility of their COVID-19-related medical devices for children. The competition focused on medical devices that support home health monitoring and telehealth, and improve sustainability, resiliency and readiness in diagnosing and treating children during a pandemic.

“Our heartfelt congratulations to TGV-Dx, who was selected from a highly competitive field of worthy devices,” says  Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., MBA, PMP, vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National Hospital and principal investigator of NCC-PDI. “COVID-19 is presenting unprecedented challenges and my NCC-PDI colleagues and I know that supporting pediatric innovations will improve care for the patients and families we serve.”

NCC-PDI is one of five members in the FDA’s Pediatric Device Consortia Grant Program created to support the development and commercialization of medical devices for children, which lags significantly behind the progress of adult medical devices. To date, NCC-PDI has mentored over 100 medical device sponsors to help advance their pediatric innovations, with twelve devices having received either their FDA market clearance or CE marking.

“These winners represent some of the most promising emerging medical device innovations in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of children affected by COVID-19,” said Paul Grand, CEO of MedTech Innovator. “I’m thrilled that we were able to work together with NCC-PDI and seventy-five expert industry stakeholders and clinicians to provide support for these innovators on their critical missions to improve and protect the lives of pediatric patients, our most vulnerable population.”