The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's John Adams Innovation Institute has awarded a $500,000 grant for UMass Lowell’s Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center (M2D2). Those funds will be used to help entrepreneurs move new medical device ideas from patent into production.
The funds come on the heels of a prior $150,000 Innovation Institute grant that leveraged more than $1.3 million in federal funding for further development of a portable “Jaws of Life,” which could be brought to the scene of accidents by emergency responders, and of a biodegradable stent coated with drugs to assist heart patients. The drugs are released as the stent is broken down by the body. The new Innovation Institute funds will be used to quickly develop prototypes of similarly marketable new product ideas, under the direction of Prof. Stephen McCarthy of UMass Lowell’s Plastics Engineering Department.
“M2D2 is UMass Lowell’s latest contribution to growing the life sciences economy,” said Chancellor Marty Meehan. “We are helping new medical device ideas get from patent to production, and in turn helping the state create new products and jobs.”
“Competition in the innovation economy is now genuinely global – from research to manufacturing to the capital markets that finance the risk taking,” said Patrick Larkin, director of the MTC's John Adams Innovation Institute. “This award can strengthen Massachusetts’ conditions for continued success in medical devices.”
“We have tested our concept – that M2D2 can help inventors of new medical devices secure additional funding to develop their ideas. The new funds will put M2D2 on the fast track, directly assisting companies with product prototyping and testing,” said McCarthy. With the funds, the center will help inventors turn new medical product ideas into prototypes likely to secure federal and private funding. The one-year plan is expected to assist about 10 companies and result in two to three new products ready for hand-off to investors.
UMass President Jack Wilson provided the original seed funding to launch this initiative two years ago through his Science and Technology Fund, and he could not be more pleased with the return on the investment in M2D2,” said Thomas Chmura, UMass Vice President for Economic Development.
“UMass is committed to engaging the life sciences sectors across the state, and M2D2 brings together the engineering expertise at UMass Lowell with the medical expertise at UMass Worcester,” Chmura said. M2D2 is a UMass Worcester-UMass Lowell partnership. Sheila Noone, director of clinical research at Worcester, helps direct the center.
MassMEDIC, the medical device industry trade organization, will collaborate with M2D2 in implementing some portions of the proposal funded under the grant. MassMEDIC President Thomas Sommer said, “We look forward to partnering more fully with M2D2 to maintain a thriving medical device industry in the state.”
The University is seeking additional funds from the Life Sciences board later this month to renovate the IPI building in Lowell’s Northern Canal area, transforming it into an Innovation Center for Life Sciences. The Patrick Administration has indicated support for the capital project by proposing funding for the building in its higher education bond bill.
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