INDUSTRY NEWS
A parent to Specialty Silicone Fabricators (Paso Robles, CA, USA) and contract manufacturer Innovative Surgical Products (Tustin, CA, USA), ISSAC Medical has announced that it will award US$10,000 to an individual or a group that best demonstrates innovation in the field of combination products. “There is good work being done in the realm of combination-product research and we want to encourage innovation in that area,” says Mark Paulsen, director of new business development at ISSAC Medical and former director of NuSil (Carpinteria, CA, USA). “After investigating a number of ways to become involved with the advances being made in combination product research, we decided to sponsor a cash prize,” Paulsen says.
Two types of applicants are eligible for the AIA Award: university researchers, and researchers from start-up companies employing fewer than 25 people. The product entered in the contest cannot be commercialized at the time of application. By 21 December, applicants must submit a two-sentence description on their research. Entries can be submitted on the company’s Web site, located at www.issacmedical.com or by contacting Paulsen at the e-mail address below. “By 1 May of 2009, we’re going to ask for more information from applicants so that we can judge the product.” The results of the contest will be announced in June 2009.
“We’re working on putting a panel of judges together now,” Paulsen explains. The number of judges on the panel is yet to be determined, but there will be at least three. “We are making overtures to US FDA to see if they would consider being on the panel.”
Beginning in July, the company began contacting the bioengineering departments at a variety of US universities to gauge interest in the competition. “Up to this point, the response has been tremendous,” says Paul Mazelin, marketing manager of Specialty Silicone Fabricators. “It’s incredible how many projects are in the lab stage at the present time,” he adds.
For more information, contact Mark Paulsen at ISSAC Medical Inc., 2761 Walnut Ave., Tustin, CA 92780, USA; phone: +1 805 2394284; fax: +1 805 2390523; e-mail: mark.paulsen@issacmedical.com; Internet: http://issacmedical.com.
