Stanford University Team Wins Award for Drug-Delivery Catheter Design

Published on: June 24, 2013

Combination product design takes second prize in the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance Biomedical Engineering contest.

The Wyshbone drug-delivery catheter, which continuously applies lidocaine to the throat during breathing tube insertion, won second prize last week in the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) Biomedical Engineering Innovation, Design, and Entrepreneurship Award (BMEidea) contest, NCIIA announced in a press release. The targeted drug-delivery approach allows clinicians to minimize sedation and its accompanying side effects.

Rush Bartlett II, PhD, and Ryan Van Wert, MD, designed the device as part of their participation in Stanford’s Biodesign Program, which places fellows in a local hospital to identify medical or operational problems and build prototypes to provide solutions. Bartlett and Van Wert founded medical-device start-up AWAIR, which received initial funding from NCIIA.

The NCIIA helps student and faculty entrepreneurs bring concepts to commercialization. BMEidea is an annual competition with awards presented each year at the MD&M East Medical Device Trade Show and Convention.