Streaming Science to the Market

Marty Griffin and his colleagues at Accurate Polymers Ltd. near Chicago say they have invented a better bead. Their 1-micron bead, used for purifying antibodies, has a high binding capacity, and because it is not a bacterial protein, Griffin says users can sidestep problems associated with bacterial product ligands. The inventors have worked for at least three years to refine this tiny item; now they want to take it to market. For most small companies and inventors, the product never makes it t

Written byPaula Park

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For most small companies and inventors, the product never makes it to market, because the inventors haven't anticipated the financial and regulatory requirements of downstream funders, users, and consumers, according to Clifford Goodman, senior scientist for medical technology at the Lewin Group, a health-care consultancy firm. "The beauty of a technology is not enough today," adds Goodman, who addressed participants in a National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer program conference in Washington, D.C., July 2-3. "You have to think downstream about health care."

To help inventors think through all aspects of product development, production, and sales, NIH uses the annual conference to explain how to take advantage of the millions of dollars available in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) funding for the creation of health-related products and services (more than $435 million this fiscal year).

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