New York – PAVmed Inc., a highly differentiated, multi-product medical device company, has signed a definitive licensing agreement with a group of leading academic institutions, including Tufts University and two Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals – Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Massachusetts General Hospital. The agreement provides PAVmed with an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize antibiotic-eluting resorbable ear tubes based on a proprietary aqueous silk technology conceived and developed at these institutions.
Lishan Aklog, M.D., chairman and CEO of PAVmed, says, “We are thrilled to partner with these world-renowned institutions to develop and commercialize this revolutionary technology. Academic medical centers and individual clinician innovators have often struggled to advance their medical device innovations to commercialization. One of PAVmed’s central goals has been to provide innovators with a rapid, capital-efficient and streamlined pathway to commercialization, free from traditional structural and capital constraints. We anticipate this agreement will serve as a model for future engagements with medical device innovators worldwide.”
PAVmed also announced that one of the visionaries behind this technology, Christopher J. Hartnick, M.D., professor of otolaryngology at Harvard Medical School and chief of pediatric otolaryngology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Massachusetts General Hospital, has joined its Medical Advisory Board and will work closely with the PAVmed team on its development. Hartnick also serves as vice chair of safety and quality, and of clinical research in the Department of Otolaryngology at Harvard Medical School and as director of its Pediatric Airway, Voice and Swallowing Center.
Each year, up to 1 million children with persistent ear infections (otitis media) or middle ear fluid collections (effusions) undergo placement of metal, plastic or latex bilateral ear tubes to ventilate and drain the middle ear. This is the most common pediatric surgical procedure in the U.S.
Hartnick says, “I believe that the antibiotic-eluting resorbable ear tube technology will revolutionize the care of children with complex or recurrent otitis media. I see many clinical benefits, including eliminating the post-operative ear drop regimen, which is a major challenge for parents, and reducing the need for a second operation to remove retained tubes. I also expect fewer complications such as ear tubes remaining in the ear canals for years after becoming dislodged and either causing pain or bleeding, which may lead to a separate procedure to remove the tubes, or obstructing a clear view of the ear drum to identify occult middle ear infection.”
The agreement provides PAVmed with a worldwide license to develop and commercialize the aqueous silk-based resorbable ear tube technology for the life of the underlying patents. PAVmed has committed to a timeline with certain milestones on the path to commercialization. Once commercialized, the institutions will receive royalties based on revenue and a portion of certain additional proceeds from the sale or sublicensing of the technology to a third party. Financial terms were not disclosed.
About PAVmed
PAVmed Inc. is a highly differentiated, multi-product medical device company employing a unique business model designed to advance products from concept to commercialization much more rapidly and with significantly less capital than the typical medical device company. This proprietary model enables PAVmed to pursue an expanding multi-product pipeline strategy with a view to enhancing and accelerating value creation. PAVmed’s diversified pipeline of products address unmet clinical needs, have attractive regulatory pathways and market opportunities and encompass a broad spectrum of clinical areas including carpal tunnel syndrome (CarpX), medical infusions (NextFlo and NextCath), interventional radiology (PortIO and NextCath), tissue ablation and cardiovascular intervention (Caldus). The Company intends to further expand its pipeline through engagements with clinician innovators and leading academic medical centers.
Source: PAVmed