The Institute for Pediatric Innovation Inc. added another health center to the consortium of healthcare providers it’s assembled to develop medical products for children.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based institute tapped Children’s National Medical Center of Washington, D.C., for its collaborative of six health centers working to develop medical devices and pharmaceuticals specifically designed for infants and children.
"This partnership is one component of Children’s National’s multi-disciplinary efforts to advance new products, treatments, and practices that will change the way we care for children," Dr. Edward Connor, director of the office of innovation and investigational therapeutics at Children’s National said in prepared remarks.
“The needs of children are often subordinate in the typical product development process, leaving pediatric health care providers to adapt adult drugs and devices to meet the needs of children," Connor said.
IPI said it has a formalized model for product development based on an assessment of needs and feasibility in different pediatric settings. Its partnership includes Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, The Children’s Hospital of Denver, Children’s Mercy Hospital and Clinics, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital.
Donald Lombardi, founder and CEO of the four-year-old nonprofit, is a former intellectual property chief at Boston’s Children’s Hospital. Lombardi told MassDevice in January that the institute goes through a rigorous process to find products that are both clinically needed and commercially viable.
