MEPTEC:
September 16th - 17th - 2009 Medical Electronics Symposium: Drivers for Technology, Health and the Economy (Tempe)Co-produced by MEPTEC and SMTA, this two-day event will bring together medical and microelectronics experts to cover a spectrum of medical technology and applications. Click Here for more information.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
PADT is Looking to License and Commercialize New Technology
PADT is building on 15 years of success in the energy and aerospace sectors by investing in our medical device group – PADT Medical. Part of this investment involves developing new products founded on concepts provided by Doctors, entrepreneurs, inventors, and tech transfer offices. PADT began building its medical device capability in 2002 and formed PADT Medical as a formal group in 2006. The group has been FDA compliant since 2007 and will be certified ISO13485 in Q3, 2009.
Since late last year, we have been working to find products for PADT Medical to develop and to date we have collected and reviewed ~ 60 concepts. Four of these concepts have made it through our initial investigation and we are now pursuing the next preliminary phase of development. We hope to make it to full scale development on 1 or 2 products each year.
We are looking for two very distinct types of product opportunities: one that is simple enough for PADT to fund largely on our own, or with some Angel level support, and could conceivably be to market in 18 months; and one that is much more technically cutting edge and that we would work to gather government and VC funding for and would take ~ 4 years to bring to market. An example of a simple product that we are funding on our own is a one-piece plastic tool that would be used in hospitals for routine exams. An example of a cutting edge device that we are pursuing is an aortic graft. In the case of this graft, we have partnered with a leading doctor and entrepreneur to apply for an NIH grant to develop a proof of concept.
Simple product IP that we would be interested to review could come from almost any discipline, but cutting edge concepts would best fit us if they were endovascular, endoscopic, laparoscopic, diagnostic, natural orifice, or orthopedic in nature.
We are excited about bringing this business opportunity to doctors and entrepreneurs in Arizona and look forward to hearing your ideas and concepts. If you are interested, we invite you to contact us to further explore the potential of commercializing your IP.
Since late last year, we have been working to find products for PADT Medical to develop and to date we have collected and reviewed ~ 60 concepts. Four of these concepts have made it through our initial investigation and we are now pursuing the next preliminary phase of development. We hope to make it to full scale development on 1 or 2 products each year.
We are looking for two very distinct types of product opportunities: one that is simple enough for PADT to fund largely on our own, or with some Angel level support, and could conceivably be to market in 18 months; and one that is much more technically cutting edge and that we would work to gather government and VC funding for and would take ~ 4 years to bring to market. An example of a simple product that we are funding on our own is a one-piece plastic tool that would be used in hospitals for routine exams. An example of a cutting edge device that we are pursuing is an aortic graft. In the case of this graft, we have partnered with a leading doctor and entrepreneur to apply for an NIH grant to develop a proof of concept.
Simple product IP that we would be interested to review could come from almost any discipline, but cutting edge concepts would best fit us if they were endovascular, endoscopic, laparoscopic, diagnostic, natural orifice, or orthopedic in nature.
We are excited about bringing this business opportunity to doctors and entrepreneurs in Arizona and look forward to hearing your ideas and concepts. If you are interested, we invite you to contact us to further explore the potential of commercializing your IP.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
MedApps Receives FDA Approval for Telehealth Solution
Another PADT customer to recently achieve a significant milestone is Scottsdale-based MedApps, Inc. In its June 5th Press Release, the company reports;
“MedApps, Inc. has been granted a 510(k) market clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its expanded, flexible telehealth solution. The MedApps system is designed to link patients, families and healthcare professionals by providing a convenient way to remotely collect, transmit, store and report timely and accurate health information - anywhere. The MedApps system features the HealthPAL, a small portable personal health device, to collect and transmit readings from glucose meters, blood pressure monitors, weight scales and pulse oximeters.”
When MedApps needed to fabricate prototypes and prepare for full-scale production they turned to PADT. Bruce Bowers, VP of Manufacturing at MedApps stated “PADT has helped us with prototyping and small run support of our enclosures. Now we move into the higher volume demand with PADT to enjoy mutual growth. This is getting very exciting for the teams”. PADT is excited about the future of MedApps and we are looking forward to seeing their new technology help reduce healthcare costs and improve compliance.”
PADT Medical helps innovative medical device companies, like MedApps, that are commercializing new products and need rapid prototyping and low-cost manufacturing solutions. Our in-house capabilities, combined with our list of approved off-shore suppliers, provide our medical device customers a one-stop seamless transition from development to production. Contact us to learn more about how you can achieve early milestones with your innovative medical device concept.
“MedApps, Inc. has been granted a 510(k) market clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its expanded, flexible telehealth solution. The MedApps system is designed to link patients, families and healthcare professionals by providing a convenient way to remotely collect, transmit, store and report timely and accurate health information - anywhere. The MedApps system features the HealthPAL, a small portable personal health device, to collect and transmit readings from glucose meters, blood pressure monitors, weight scales and pulse oximeters.”
When MedApps needed to fabricate prototypes and prepare for full-scale production they turned to PADT. Bruce Bowers, VP of Manufacturing at MedApps stated “PADT has helped us with prototyping and small run support of our enclosures. Now we move into the higher volume demand with PADT to enjoy mutual growth. This is getting very exciting for the teams”. PADT is excited about the future of MedApps and we are looking forward to seeing their new technology help reduce healthcare costs and improve compliance.”
PADT Medical helps innovative medical device companies, like MedApps, that are commercializing new products and need rapid prototyping and low-cost manufacturing solutions. Our in-house capabilities, combined with our list of approved off-shore suppliers, provide our medical device customers a one-stop seamless transition from development to production. Contact us to learn more about how you can achieve early milestones with your innovative medical device concept.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
SafeStitch Medical Inc., Receives FDA Approval for Its SMART Dilator
It brings us great satisfaction when we are able to help our medical device customers achieve significant product development milestones. One such milestone was recently achieved by SafeStitch Medical when the FDA approved the Smart Dilator medical device. In its April edition, Gastroenterology and Endoscopy News reports that the SMARTTM Dilator is the “first esophageal dilator that indicates the amount of pressure being applied at the esophageal stricture, hopefully reducing the incidence of esophageal perforation.”
SafeStitch Medical approached PADT to help design and develop early prototypes of the SMARTTM Dilator product concept. We worked closely with the SafeStitch’s clinical, engineering, and regulatory team to establish product and design requirements through early prototype testing. The early development work was performed within PADT’s FDA Compliant Quality System and the Design History File was subsequently transferred to SafeStitch for final development and fabrication of the SMARTTM Dilator product.
PADT Medical helps emerging medical device companies, like SafeStitch Medical, that are commercializing new products and need outside engineering expertise to help develop their innovative device concepts. We enable reduced time-to-market by utilizing our established quality system, computer simulation, and rapid prototype testing to quickly converge on design solutions. Contact us to learn more about how you can achieve early milestones with your innovative medical device concept.
SafeStitch Medical approached PADT to help design and develop early prototypes of the SMARTTM Dilator product concept. We worked closely with the SafeStitch’s clinical, engineering, and regulatory team to establish product and design requirements through early prototype testing. The early development work was performed within PADT’s FDA Compliant Quality System and the Design History File was subsequently transferred to SafeStitch for final development and fabrication of the SMARTTM Dilator product.
PADT Medical helps emerging medical device companies, like SafeStitch Medical, that are commercializing new products and need outside engineering expertise to help develop their innovative device concepts. We enable reduced time-to-market by utilizing our established quality system, computer simulation, and rapid prototype testing to quickly converge on design solutions. Contact us to learn more about how you can achieve early milestones with your innovative medical device concept.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Accelerate Your Product Development with Fortus Rapid Prototyping Technology
Fortus FDM technology, created by Stratasys, can accelerate your product development process by enabling earlier form, fit, and function testing of your medical device.
Engineers at Medtronic’s Sofamor Danek use the Fortus Technology to quickly bring concepts from the minds of Doctors to 3D prototype. “We often see one or two VIP surgeons per day,” says design engineer Richard Franks. “They come in with a problem to solve in the morning. They explain their need to an engineer, the engineer will model a solution on ProEngineer and then make a prototype. “
The Fortus technology enables device developers to rapidly produce components using medical grade thermoplastics. The technology is similar to other FDM machines in that it is an additive prototyping process that melts and extrudes a ribbon of material that is built up one layer at a time. The Fortus offers the following improvements over existing FDM technologies:
Biocompatible (ISO 10993-1 certified) Polycarbonate and ABS materials
Many grades of thermoplastic including Polycarbonate, ABS, Polyphenylsulfone, and Ultem
A production capable process that produces durable parts
Low cost: Polycarbonate is $3.60/in3 and Ultem is $7.00/in3
PADT now distributes the Fortus here in the Southwest and employs the technology to support product development for customers in the medical industry. The Fortus is the latest technologies that PADT has added to its RP resources, which include Stereolithography (SLA), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), and rapid injection molding. Contact us for more information about the Fortus technology or how PADT Medical uses RP technology to accelerate your medical device development.
Engineers at Medtronic’s Sofamor Danek use the Fortus Technology to quickly bring concepts from the minds of Doctors to 3D prototype. “We often see one or two VIP surgeons per day,” says design engineer Richard Franks. “They come in with a problem to solve in the morning. They explain their need to an engineer, the engineer will model a solution on ProEngineer and then make a prototype. “
The Fortus technology enables device developers to rapidly produce components using medical grade thermoplastics. The technology is similar to other FDM machines in that it is an additive prototyping process that melts and extrudes a ribbon of material that is built up one layer at a time. The Fortus offers the following improvements over existing FDM technologies:
Biocompatible (ISO 10993-1 certified) Polycarbonate and ABS materials
Many grades of thermoplastic including Polycarbonate, ABS, Polyphenylsulfone, and Ultem
A production capable process that produces durable parts
Low cost: Polycarbonate is $3.60/in3 and Ultem is $7.00/in3
PADT now distributes the Fortus here in the Southwest and employs the technology to support product development for customers in the medical industry. The Fortus is the latest technologies that PADT has added to its RP resources, which include Stereolithography (SLA), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), and rapid injection molding. Contact us for more information about the Fortus technology or how PADT Medical uses RP technology to accelerate your medical device development.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Solvent Bonding Polycarbonate to Polycarbonate - Update
It didn't work well. Unfortunately, it seems the bond created was very porous (see image below). After curing in a fume hood for 18 hours, the surface was still a bit tacky (after pulling the two pieces apart). The bond surface was abot 1/4" square and held roughly 20 lbf before seperating. It may have been stronger had it cured all the way, hard to know for sure. I only tried a few samples, so perhaps there are process tweaks I could make that would improve the efficacy of the cyclohexanone bond, but at this point it seems a less than ideal solvent for bonding polycarbonate to itself.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Solvent Bonding Polycarbonate to Polycarbonate
I encountered the need to solvent bond Polycarbonate to itself for one of the projects we're currently working on. After speaking with several vendors and reading various snippets online, I discovered that Methylene Chloride is the solvent of choice for bonding polycarbonate. Great, right? Except not so great. This is why: the method of sterilization we've chosen for our product is EtO (and we can't change it for technical reasons), and apparently EtO sterilization does not react well to anything with chlorine in it. So, the chloride part of methylene chloride presents a challenge. After further digging, a technician at Masterbond recommended a chemical called Cyclohexanone (which, I confirmed, has no chlorine in it). I've got some on order and plan on doing a test this week. I'll fill you in on the results when I have them.
Moral of the story - methylene chloride is the solvent of choice for bonding polycarbonate to itself; however, if you'll be EtO sterilizing your parts, using methylene chloride won't work and you should consider an alternative, possibly cyclohexanone.
Moral of the story - methylene chloride is the solvent of choice for bonding polycarbonate to itself; however, if you'll be EtO sterilizing your parts, using methylene chloride won't work and you should consider an alternative, possibly cyclohexanone.
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