Accelerating pediatric device innovation through legislative processes and industry changes

While the way we deliver healthcare is changing rapidly, far too often the tools we use to treat children are stuck in the past.

Over the last decade, pediatric medical device innovation, particularly for the youngest, most fragile children, has made dismal progress. Of the Class 3 (high risk/high benefit) medical devices approved by FDA for pediatrics in the last 10 years, less than 4% are for ages 0-2 years old; and even less for neo-natal patients. Simply put, as medical devices advance, children are not seeing the benefit of innovation.

The 8^th Annual Pediatric Device Innovation Symposium presented by Children’s National Hospital in conjunction with the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Medical Devices (NCC-PDI) featured a keynote panel, “Pediatric Device Innovation: What’s Next?”, to examine the legislative and industry changes needed to speed up device innovation for kids.

One of the keynote panelists, and leading voices on this issue, is Children’s National Hospital president and CEO Kurt Newman, M.D. Dr. Newman, a former pediatric surgeon, knows firsthand that every day in our nation’s pediatric hospitals, surgeons are manipulating adult medical devices to create creative solutions for children’s bodies because it’s the only available option.

“Children need and deserve devices that are conceived and designed with their biology and future in mind,” says Dr. Newman. “While children may only make up a small percentage of our population – maybe 20 or 25% – they are 100% of our future.”

Dr. Newman also addressed the current barriers to pediatric device innovation, which ranges from limited pediatric clinical trials to a market size that’s not financially appealing.

“The truth is, the frontiers of pediatric medicine are really in the innovative treatments, devices, therapies, and cures awaiting us on the other side of research and development.,” says Dr. Newman.

Former CNN correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, moderated the 45-minute keynote panel discussion, asking questions about the challenges to pediatric innovation, what policy changes need to take place to see improvement in the field of pediatric device innovation, and how federal funding can assist in creating change.

Michelle McMurry-Heath, new CEO of DC-based Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), who joined Dr. Newman on this keynote panel, agreed that more needs to be done in the pediatric space. Dr. McMurry-Heath believes the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a public health advocate at heart and that the Pediatric Device Consortia (PDC), which Children’s National Hospital is part of, is starting to make new advancements in pediatric innovation by giving FDA clearance to more start-up companies than we’ve seen in the past.

“The FDA is interested in is what improves the health outcomes for the people and innovation is a huge piece. This is an important part of their mission and it is starting to yield benefits,” says Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath. “Innovation is a team sport – it’s not easy. It takes a village of expertise and collaboration to progress and projects like the Pediatric Device Consortia is an important piece in this puzzle.”

NCC-PDI is one of five consortia in the FDA’s Pediatric Device Consortia (PDC) Grant Program created to support the development and commercialization of medical devices for children and is led by the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Hospital and the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, with support from partners MedTech Innovator, BioHealth Innovation and design firm Archimedic.

To date, NCC-PDI has mentored over 100 medical device sponsors to help advance their pediatric innovations, with seven devices having received either their FDA market clearance or CE marking.

Dr. McMurry-Heath also addressed the challenge of diseases that don’t exist in adults and posed the question, “How do you create a device for kids if it doesn’t exist in adults?” She cited the lack of market in pediatrics and the difficulty in bringing a device to market as problems that hinder innovation, which is why advocating for these devices is crucial to children’s healthcare everywhere.

“So much of our innovation comes from our small, innovative companies,” say Dr. McMurry-Heath. “For example, my company is working on a COVID-19 tracker now and 70% of the innovation is coming from our smallest biotech companies. It’s a race against time for these companies to bring their innovation to market in order to keep the lights on and pay their scientists; this dog-eat-dog world isn’t immediately obvious to outsiders.

Beyond advocating, Dr. Newman and Children’s National are developing the first-of-its-kind pediatric research and innovation campus, which is currently under construction at DC’s former Walter Reed Army Medical Center site.

“We secured 12 acres to create something that has never been done before and that’s a campus for innovation dedicated to children,” says Dr. Newman. “Our close proximity to federal research institutions and agencies enables the new Children’s National campus to leverage the rich ecosystem of public and private sectors to help bolster biohealth, medical device, and life science innovation.”

As Children’s National continues to champion ways to accelerate pediatric device development, one focus is the on-site incubator Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS, which will help start-up companies strengthen their ideas by working with coaches, having access to mentors and learning how to interact with the FDA. This partnership also offers an audience for their device which could potentially lead to investments.

The Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus will create an ecosystem that can accelerate breakthroughs in pediatric healthcare discoveries and technologies: The new campus is currently under construction and expected to open in the first quarter of 2021.

Both panelists agreed they’d like to see more flexibility with regulators to work with innovators in order create more incentives for them to present their device, like the NCC-PDI “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” Competition, which was recently held in September 2020. The six winners received up to $50,000 in FDA-funded grant awards in order to develop their device, eventually bring it to market in order to improve healthcare for kids.