University of Chicago company Flow Medical recently announced it raised $1 million from a medical device manufacturer and they are finalizing a product design. Flow Medical – which is creating a multi-function catheter for helping diagnose and treat venous thromboembolic disease – was founded by the University of Chicago researchers Jonathan Paul, associate professor of medicine, and Osmanuddin Ahmed, associate professor of radiology.
These investments will be used for funding the device development and testing needed to submit for FDA 510(k) approval in the first quarter of 2025 according to Kathleen McGing, MBA ’23, chief business officer, who started working with Flow Medical as a Business Development Fellow through Polsky’s Compass deep tech accelerator.
The initial prototyping was supported by a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant. And this provided valuable learnings that de-risked the technology and optimized the engineering according to McGing.
In July 2022, Flow Medical was awarded a $200,000 co-investment from the George Shultz Innovation Fund to further develop its technology. And it also participated in the Polsky I-Corps program – which enables UChicago scientists, researchers, and students to test the commercial potential of their research and ideas, and was selected for Cohort 4 of the Compass deep tech accelerator.
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“We will finalize the device design and our manufacturing partners in the next few months. Once that’s complete, we will focus on testing and small-scale production to prepare for FDA submission.”
“A year ago, we had the theory that if we could push device engineering to the edge of what’s possible, then physicians, investors, and manufacturers would want to partner with us,” she said. “Over the past year, it’s been thrilling and motivating to have both our scientific and business development theories proven true.”
“Receiving the George Shultz Innovation Fund investment and SBIR Phase I grant were great sources of momentum because they not only provided the funds to prove technical feasibility, but also showed our team, investors, and partners that we are on a path to commercialization.”
“Another exciting evolution in the past year has been stepping outside of the University of Chicago’s ecosystem and becoming a part of Chicago’s amazing and growing biotech community. Connecting other startups and successful entrepreneurs has made us a better company through the invaluable advice we’ve received.”
— Kathleen McGing
