The West Coast Consortium for Technology & Innovation in Pediatrics (CTIP)
2018 marked Children’s Hospital of Los Angele’s largest $6.6 million P50 grant from the FDA to continue research and development of MedTech for children.
Dr. Juan Espinoza, MD (PI) and I wrote about CTIP in The Section on Advances in Therapeutics and Technology (SOATT) a newsletter that targets 67,000 pediatricians sponsored by The American Academy of Pediatrics. The Section on Advances in Therapeutics and Technology strives to advance pediatric health and well-being through collaboration, communication and education on the discovery and development of technology and successful translation into practice.
CTIP, the pediatric medical device accelerator based at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and the University of Southern California (USC) engages clinicians, engineers, regulators, hospital administrators, patients and the business community in the process of assessment and development of technology. CTIP has a network of children’s hospitals, academic institutions, accelerators and incubators across the West Coast to support the commercialization of pediatric medical devices. CTIP network members include the University of California, Los Angeles; Oregon Health & Science University; University of Southern California; University of California, San Diego; University of California, Berkeley; Seattle Children’s Hospital; Cedars-Sinai Accelerator; LA BioMed; and Project Zygote.
As healthcare is transforming, pediatric medtech also faces new challenges and more than ever, medtech commercialization success requires a clear and consistent focus on delivering differentiated value. The bar for demonstrating differentiated clinical and economic value is rising and medtech entrepreneurs and companies are forced to rethink how they can effectively create products, a product portfolio and/or an IP portfolio that will meet the ever increasing set of expectations. To account for these new realities, the CTIP team created a formula for innovation and commercialization; these include developing a toolkit of methods for the Evaluation of Pediatric Medical Devices. CTIP’s unique evaluation process is one way to assess the company’s product pipeline, team structure, go-to-market strategy and R&D efforts. De-risking the device during this evaluation process is an essential component; we work closely with the founders and consultants to apply risk management procedures to the design and manufacture of their pediatric medical device.
CTIP’s evaluation process also includes: Communicating the potential market dynamics and encouraging entrepreneurs to add as much value to their products as possible. Evaluation questions include: What stage is the company at? What are their multi-assets? Where is the location of the risk(s)? How will the device evolve the current standard of care over time? What is the manufacturing plan and scalability plan?In 2019, CTIP improved our communications and transparency and organized efforts focused on various audiences to help people understand ‘the why’. We created unique programming to assist founders with their commercial story; articulating how their medical device can not only improve patient outcomes but create value for each of the key stakeholders across the healthcare delivery continuum.
CTIP pinpointed the various organizational implications across a few healthcare systems and targeted bottlenecks that could delay adoption and diffusion in a timely manner. We developed solutions for these bottlenecks. We connected with key stakeholders and decision makers to determine incentives, opportunities for meaningful engagement and best practices for medtech ‘productivity’. CTIP worked closely with the portfolio members to understand that very few medtech companies mature into large, independent players. For the most part, most companies are acquired or pursue licensing and acquisition opportunities. Further, the life cycle of pediatric medical devices is a continuous process of managing the existing business, introducing new products and shepherding the growth of shareholder value.Since September 2018, CTIP has advanced 77 pediatric devices, 37 of those are based on the West Coast. All companies are at different stages: idea and/or concept, design and prototype, licensing negotiation and companies immersed in fundraising and deal flow. In 2019, the CTIP portfolio leveraged over $45M in funding to support the continued device development. Our 2020 strategic plan includes: Increase the number of medical devices with labeling for pediatric patients, curate data on the unmet needs for pediatric MedTech, advocate for pediatric devices and reduce the barriers to device development.
CTIP’s will take advantage of the unique talent base in Los Angeles, grow the network of accessible, experienced engineers, business development experts and individuals that can open doors, provide insights into the market, and give advice. We will leverage the deep pool of funding, resources and relationships available and distinct to the West Coast. Many new partnerships were created in 2019. These include: County of Los Angeles, California, Grid110, ScaleLA, Backstage Capital, IBM, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Google. CTIP will continue to connect with traditional medtech companies who have started investing directly into smaller medtech startups and focus on strengthening the strategic partnerships CTIP has built and maintained since 2011. As we gear up for another dynamic year, our leadership team will stay attuned to 2020 medtech trends, dynamic nature of software regulatory requirements, considerations regarding AI and machine learning and the unique challenges of large clinical datasets and privacy issues.
