Success Stories

ZOLL Medical Corporation, a medical device and software solutions provider, is demonstrating the advances which can be catalyzed when two key industry sectors — such as manufacturing and information technology — converge in the Pittsburgh region. ZOLL helps responders manage, treat, and save lives, whether in emergency rescues, in hospitals, at work or home, in doctors’ and dentists’ offices and schools, in public places, and on the battlefield. ZOLL’s products contribute to managing patient care and saving lives, as well as increasing the efficiency of emergency medical, fire, and hospital operations around the globe. Among ZOLL’s leading innovations are: (read more)

Saladax Biomedical, Inc., a Bethlehem, Pa.-based company that develops and commercializes diagnostic tests, is launching a new diagnostic test called MyImatinib, which determines a patient’s exposure to chemotherapy in an effort to improve and personalize dosing. The tests provide oncologists with specific information about each patient’s exposure to chemotherapy, helping the doctor make decisions on drug dose adjustments, improving the therapy’s effectiveness and limiting potential side effects. Kevin Harter, president and CEO of Saladax Biomedical, reports that a company analysis found 50 percent of patients are not receiving an optimal chemotherapy dosage, and these tests should help improve that.

OraSure Technologies, a Bethlehem, Pa.-based developer and manufacturer of oral fluid diagnostic and collection devices, announced in the summer of 2014 it had entered into an agreement with biopharmaceutical company AbbVie, which will pay OraSure $75 million for exclusive rights to sell its rapid hepatitis C test through 2019. OraSure’s HCV test is the only federally-approved rapid test for the virus and provides results in as little as 20 minutes, allowing patients to be referred for treatment immediately. Additionally, federal agencies and private-sector entities approached OraSure this year to investigate whether its technology for in-home HIV tests could be used to screen or the Ebola virus. The testing technology is easy to use, produces a quick result, and, unlike current Ebola tests, does not require blood to be drawn.

The rapid diagnosis of brain disease and injuries can lead to early and effective intervention with resulting cost savings, improved clinical outcomes, and increased patient satisfaction for people with concussions/traumatic brain injury, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurologic and psychiatric conditions. There are currently no affordable, portable, and accurate neuro-diagnostics available to physicians, nurses, first responders, and trainers for use in real time.

Micro Interventional Devices, Inc., (MID), based in Newtown, Pa., is an early-stage medical device company that designs, manufactures, and commercializes proprietary technologies targeting unmet needs in the treatment of structural heart diseases. MID is developing a disruptive technology that enables some heart surgeries to be conducted through a puncture in the skin as opposed to open surgery that sometimes involves opening the patient’s ribcage, creating possibilities for life-saving surgeries among patients who were not previously candidates. The new, minimally invasive structural heart repair procedure greatly reduces healing time. MID’s initial product is the PermasealTM device.