Fort Collins, CO, Nov. 07, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fort Collins-based startup company Green Sun Medical was awarded the top prize of a $50,000 grant during the Fifth Annual Pediatric Device Innovation Symposium, which is an FDA-sponsored pediatric medical device competition in San Jose, Calif. organized by the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Health System.

Green Sun Medical is developing a dynamic scoliosis brace that applies continuous corrective pressure and allows physicians to remotely monitor the performance of their patients. Current treatments for scoliosis include spinal fusion surgeries, and braces developed over 40 years ago.

Green Sun Medical is a graduate company of Colorado’s high-tech incubator, Innosphere, and is also a tenant of Innosphere’s Fort Collins building. “Green Sun Medical’s tech-­enabled spinal brace is an innovation that addresses an unmet need in today’s healthcare space,” said Mike Freeman, Innosphere CEO. “The company has a very talented team that’s dedicated to addressing this critical need for patients around the world.”

“We are honored to have our scoliosis brace recognized with these other pediatric device innovations,” said Jamie Haggard, CEO of Green Sun Medical.  The Western Colorado State University graduate said this grant will help fund the pilot study that will begin this winter at the National Scoliosis Center.

The pitch competition which Green Sun Medical won was sponsored by the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI), an FDA-funded consortium led by Children’s National and the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland. The competition was part of the annual symposium to foster innovation that will advance pediatric healthcare and address the unmet surgical and medical device needs for children.

“Our heartfelt congratulations to Green Sun Medical who was selected from a highly competitive field of worthy devices," said Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., executive director of the Sheikh Zayed Institute and NCC-PDI. "In our role as a catalyst for pediatric innovation, we see this as the beginning of our relationship with Green Sun Medical.” In addition to financial support, awardees will have access to consultation services for all phases of pediatric device development – from ideation through marketing – to help them get their devices to market faster.

During the competition, 12 finalists had five minutes to present their proposal to the judging panel, which included: Susan Alpert, M.D., of SFA Consulting, a former director of the FDA Office of Device Evaluation and former senior vice president and chief regulatory officer of Medtronic; Charles Berul, M.D., of Children’s National; Andrew Elbardissi, M.D., of Deerfield Management; Rick Greenwald, Ph.D., of the New England Pediatric Device Consortium (NEPDC); James Love, J.D., of Oblon; Josh Makower, M.D., of NEA; Jennifer McCaney, Ph.D., of MedTech Innovator; Jackie Phillips, M.D., of Johnson & Johnson; and Tracy Warren of Astarte Ventures.

This competition was created to foster innovation in the pediatric device sector, which continues to lag behind adult device development and creates a host of challenges for doctors when treating children. Since inception in 2013, NCC-PDI has supported 67 pediatric devices and the companies and research labs owning these devices have collectively raised $55 million in additional funding.

To learn more about Green Sun Medical visit http://www.greensunmedical.com

About Green Sun Medical:

Green Sun Medical was founded to transform the treatment to address Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis. We are developing a dynamic brace that applies continuous corrective pressure and allows the physicians to remotely monitor their patients. www.greensunmedical.com

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8dbbda87-70f4-4998-b9ea-2f0938a734a2

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/60c07c8f-b4d0-47ba-a5b0-020bdf77ddee

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f83fe5e5-bc04-4be9-9baf-2839d9afe58a