NEW YORK — Medical molder Phillips-Medisize Corp. played a role in a winning entry in an annual medical design competition for a colorectal cancer screening tool, while the founder of Boston Scientific Corp. received a lifetime achievement award.
John Abele, who co-founded Boston Scientific with Peter Nicholas in 1979, was honored for his individual contributions as an innovator, educator and philanthropist in the medical device industry. The Marlborough, Mass.-based company develops, manufactures and markets medical devices.
Gold, silver, and bronze medals in 10 categories were awarded at the 18th Annual Medical Design Excellence Awards ceremony June 9 in conjunction with the MD&M East trade show in New York.
Best-in-Show honors went to Hvalstad, Norway-based design firm Krabat AS for the Sheriff S2 children's indoor/outdoor-use wheelchair, featuring a saddle-style seat for better stability and mobility.
Phillips-Medisize worked with Exact Sciences Inc. of Madison, Wis., on the design of the cancer screening collection kit, which won a gold award in the diagnostic products and systems category.
Hudson, Wis.-based Phillips-Medisize makes and assembles the patient-ready kits. The Cologuard kit is the first FDA-approved non-invasive stool DNA screening test for colorectal cancer.
“We are excited and humbled to win this prestigious award for our work on a breakthrough product that has the capability of reducing the incidence of colorectal cancer,” said Phillips-Medisize Chairman and CEO Matt Jennings. “It is unbelievable that colorectal cancer is one of the most preventable, yet least prevented cancers in the United States, in part due to low screening compliance. Cologuard will help reduce the rate of this deadly disease.”
Other gold winners include:
Critical care — Maquet Holding BV & Co. KG, for ICU ventilators.
Drug-delivery devices and combination products — Ethicon US LLC for the Evarrest fibrin sealant patch.
General hospital devices and therapeutic products — Masimo Corp. for Root, a base station for Masimo's Radicial-7 handheld transport monitor and Radius-7 wearable device.
Implant and tissue-replacement products — Benvenue Medical, for the Kiva verterbal compression fracture treatment system, which treats vertebral compression fractures due to osteoporosis and cancer by leveraging minimally invasive access to expand within the vertebra into a cylindrical structure that stabilizes fractures and help prevent new fractures.
Medical product packaging, graphic instructions, and labeling systems — TruMed Systems Inc., for AccuVax, a computerized, self-monitoring, cloud-connected, refrigerator/freezer vending machine for vaccines.
Over-the-counter and self-care products — Coloplast A/S, for SpeediCath Compact Eve, a ready-to-use, compact coated catheter.
Radiological and electromechanical devices — Corindus Vascular Robotics, for Corindus CorPath 200, the first FDA-cleared system for robotic-assisted percutaneous coronary intervention procedures.
Surgical equipment, instruments and supplies — Monteris Medical Corp., for NeuroBlate System, which combines real-time MRI and software-based visualization to enable remote ablation of pathologies through application of laser interstitial thermal therapy and advanced robotics.