MedTech Venture Lazzaro Medical Awarded $2.4MM SBIR Phase II Grant from NIH to Accelerate Innovative Minimally Invasive, Robotically Assisted Treatment for Tracheobronchomalacia (TBM).
BOULDER, Colo., June 6, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Lazzaro Medical (LM), a Boulder-based medical device company, announced it has been awarded a $2.4MM Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Direct to Phase II grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This grant supports Lazzaro Medical's mission to improve patient care for those suffering from Tracheobronchomalacia (TBM) by advancing the development of its robotically assisted, Minimally Invasive Tracheal Repair (MITR™) procedure, using its patented LM Scaffold System™. Funding will support ongoing research and development efforts, verification and validation, preclinical work, and regulatory activities.
"Winning this grant underscores the critical importance of our work," said Robert Israel, Co-Founder, Lazzaro Medical, "It builds on our recent collaboration with Mayo Clinic and funding from other strategic partners including Northwell Health, the Global Business Development division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), and one of the leading manufacturers of robotic surgical systems which will expedite bringing our LM Scaffold System™ to market."
According to the NIH, just under 15% of companies applying for a Phase II grant are awarded. The Direct to Phase II grant is even more rare and is designed to expedite the development and commercialization of promising technologies by reducing the gap between phases.
In the United States alone, TBM is estimated to be present in half of the nation's 16 million COPD patients.
"Tracheobronchomalacia is devasting for patients, and previous treatments have often been more burdensome than the disease itself, significantly impacting patient recovery and healthcare costs," said Dr. Richard Lazzaro, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Lazzaro Medical. "This funding will help us reduce the timeline for making our first-in-class treatment available to the millions of patients who could benefit."
Lazzaro Medical has additional patents filed to further build out its TBM diagnostic and treatment platform.
Lazzaro Medical was founded in 2019 with a mission to help millions breathe easily again by bringing awareness to TBM as a largely under or misdiagnosed condition and offer a less invasive and risky repair option to those suffering from this degenerative disease that causes the collapse of the airway due to the softening of cartilage in the trachea.
ABOUT TRACHEOBRONCHOMALACIA
Tracheobronchomalacia, known as TBM, is a degenerative disease that causes the complete, or near-complete, collapse of the airway due to the breakdown of cartilage in the trachea. Often masquerading as chronic cough and/or shortness of breath, even after prescribed medications, it progressively worsens, often along with bouts of pneumonia and other respiratory infections. This leads to a significantly reduced quality of life, and even death, if left untreated. Although TBM is a vastly underdiagnosed disease, the prevalence has been estimated to be as high as 10% in the general population– with approximately half of the nation's 16 million COPD patients also likely suffering from TBM.
ABOUT LAZARRO MEDICAL
Lazzaro Medical is a Boulder, Colorado-based medical device company on a mission to restore healthy breathing in millions of people suffering from tracheal and bronchial maladies with a transformative platform of life-changing, minimally invasive, robotic procedures, devices, and diagnostics. Co-Founded by Dr. Richard Lazzaro, a world-renowned thoracic surgeon with 35 years of specialized expertise in minimally invasive and robotic thoracic surgery, the company's platform is based off his groundbreaking firsts in robotic thoracic surgery and his leading the largest tracheobronchomalacia (TBM) programs in the nation. For more information on Lazzaro Medical, please visit Lazzaromed.com, or follow @Lazzaro Medical on LinkedIn.
Media Contact
Renee Israel, Lazzaro Medical, 1 866-672-2800, [email protected], https://lazzaromed.com
SOURCE Lazzaro Medical
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