Three years ago, Akron’s three hospital systems had fewer than five inventions under evaluation for a potential patent.
But within the last 1› years, Akron Children’s Hospital and Akron General and Summa Health systems collectively had more than 100 medical inventions in the pipeline.
For the leaders of the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron, those numbers are evidence of success.
The BioInnovation Institute in Akron was created several years ago to bring together the clinical and research expertise of Akron’s three hospitals, the University of Akron and Northeast Ohio Medical University (Neomed) and encourage medical-related economic development.
Since then, the BioInnovation Institute has been providing doctors, other health-care providers and researchers with tools to turn their good ideas into new products, said Thom Olmstead, the BioInnovation Institute’s director of technology assessment and business development.
The BioInnovation Institute has a team to help evaluate whether new ideas have the potential to secure a patent and serve a market need, Olmstead said.
Concepts that pass those tests then can get assistance with prototype creation, technical development and commercialization.
“When we asked inventors what they did with their previous ideas, their response was, ‘I didn’t know what to do with them, so I did nothing,’ ” he said.
Results of these efforts are beginning to emerge.
The BioInnovation Institute last week announced the creation of its first spinoff company, an orthopedic device firm called Apto Orthopaedics that is developing a product to help children with scoliosis, a curvature of the spine.
The scoliosis device is one example of numerous “patient-centered innovations” in various stages of development with the help of the BioInnovation Institute, said Dr. Frank L. Douglas, the institute’s president and chief executive.
The institute was created in 2008 by Akron’s three hospital systems, the University of Akron and Neomed, along with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and local government.
Within a decade, the Akron-area partnership wants to create 2,400 new jobs and attract at least $50 million worth of investments annually in area health-care companies.
Initial projects focus on combining the University of Akron’s polymer and biomaterials expertise with the hospitals’ and Neomed’s strengths in orthopedics and wound healing.
The new spinoff company received support from the BioInnovation Institute evaluating the concept for its new device, said Brian L. Davis, vice president of the BioInnovation Institute’s Medical Device Development Center.
The inventors also used a $100,000 rapid prototyping machine housed at the BioInnovation Institute to create some of the first prototypes for the device, which still needs to undergo more laboratory, animal and other required testing before it can be used on patients.
The project fits with a national “value-driven engineering” initiative that the BioInnovation Institute is leading, Douglas said. The value-driven engineering concept means developing low-cost, high-value medical devices with an emphasis on quality that benefit patients.
Apto Orthopaedic’s could benefit patients and the health-care system by reducing the need for costly repeat surgeries for children with scoliosis, said Stephen D. Fening, co-inventor of the device and director of orthopedic devices for the BioInnovation Institute. The device uses a magnet that can adjust metal screws on implants for scoliosis from outside the body after the initial surgery, eliminating the need for repeat operations.
“It improves clinical care and reduces costs to the health-care system,” he said.
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or chpowell@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Powell on Twitter at twitter.com/abjcherylpowell
