Contact Information: Institute for Pediatric Innovation contact: Ross Trimby COO 617-401-2375 Press contact: Barbara Heffner CHEN PR, Inc. 781-672-3112
Institute for Pediatric Innovation (IPI) Receives Grant From AGA Medical Corporation -- a Leader in Developing Devices to Address Heart Defects
Nonprofit Focused on Improving Children's Healthcare Teams With Pioneer in Non-Surgical Treatment of Cardiac Defects
| Source: IPI
CAMBRIDGE, MA--(Marketwire - September 12, 2007) - The Institute for Pediatric Innovation (IPI),
Inc., a nonprofit focused on improving healthcare for children, today
announced that it has received an unrestricted grant from AGA Medical
Corporation, an innovative firm that has pioneered non-invasive devices and
techniques for repairing congenital and structural heart defects.
"The team at IPI is very pleased to acknowledge AGA Medical's unrestricted
gift, which will significantly help to underwrite our program," said Donald
Lombardi, CEO of the Institute for Pediatric Innovation. "AGA's leadership
will enhance our ability to bring together the pediatric community,
industry, government and the philanthropic sectors to make more innovative
products available for treating children. We particularly value the firm's
considerable expertise in repairing heart defects in children."
"AGA Medical has from our very beginning more than ten years ago been
committed to providing innovative devices to treat congenital heart
defects," said Franck Gougeon, President and CEO of AGA Medical. "The
pioneering work of Co-founder Dr. Kurt Amplatz has virtually eliminated
open heart surgery for the treatment of children with many of these
defects. We are pleased to find an organization such as IPI, which we
believe shares our mission and core values. We hope this grant will help
them to develop innovative drugs and devices to treat childhood diseases."
In June, IPI announced the formation of a consortium of nationally
recognized children's hospitals that will collaborate with the Institute in
its mission. IPI and its Hospital Consortium will identify priority needs
in today's clinical care of children for redesigned devices, drugs
reformulated specifically with a focus on children and promising new
technologies for neonatal care. The Consortium is composed of founding
members University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital
(Cleveland, Ohio), Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford (Palo
Alto, Calif.) and Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics (Kansas City,
Mo.).
About AGA Medical
AGA Medical Corporation, based in Plymouth, Minnesota (just outside
Minneapolis), is the leader in developing interventional devices to treat
structural heart defects. As a result of the many contributions and
creative genius of Dr. Kurt Amplatz, the company has developed and
commercialized a series of devices that have revolutionized the treatment
of the most common congenital "holes in the heart," such as atrial septal
and patent foramen ovale defects. The company is expanding into new areas,
including the minimally invasive repair of vascular abnormalities. Over 700
articles have been published in peer reviewed medical publications that
support the benefits of AGA Medical devices, such as improved patient
outcomes, reduced length of stay and accelerated recovery times for the
patient. AGA Medical devices have received regulatory approval and are
marketed in over 90 countries with over 250,000 devices shipped to date.
For more information visit www.amplatzer.com.
About the Institute for Pediatric Innovation (IPI)
The Institute for Pediatric Innovation (www.pediatricinnovation.org) is a
nonprofit organization that was formed to improve the health of children by
increasing the availability of innovative medical products with the unique
attributes required for pediatric care. IPI seeks to transform pediatric
healthcare from a neglected orphaned market to a magnet for industry and
investor interest. IPI is led by an experienced team of experts in
licensing technology in pediatric medical care, commercializing medical
technology, and marketing medical devices and pharmaceutical products. To
date, IPI has received support from its consortium members along with the
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Children's Medical Ventures, Inc. and
Oxford Bioscience Partners.