Here Are Our 5 Supplier Innovation Challenge Finalists

Updated May 26, 2015

We are happy to announce five finalists in our Supplier Innovation Challenge, after receiving results of a "wild card" matchup for our fifth finalist spot.

The Supplier Innovation Challenge winner will be selected during MD&M East, June 9-11 in New York City. Here are the five finalists:

FINALIST: ProPlate (Professional Plating Inc.; Booth #2367)

ProPlate is the maker of Torq-Lok,  a unique technology applied to braided catheters for enhanced performance.

FINALIST: Tekscan (Booth #316)

Tekscan is the manufacturerer of FlexiForce force sensors, which can measure force between almost any two surfaces and are durable enough to stand up to most environments.

FINALIST: EG-GILERO (Booth #1429)

EG-GILERO developed a novel local anesthetic delivery system for Anutra Medical that launched in 2015.

FINALIST: TissueGen (Booth #515)

TissueGen's ELUTE fibers, first commercially available in 2013, deliver a wide range of drugs and therapeutic agents from small pharmaceuticals to proteins (growth factors, enzymes, even viral particles) with retained biological activity directly to the surgical implant site.

FINALIST: MTD Micro Molding (Booth #875)

MTD Micro Molding can mold multiple micro components together at once. This technology, launched in late 2014, can improve medical device companies' drug-delivery cannulas.

Traditional manufacturing methods for the development of cannulas have used the heat-forming process of converting fluoropolymer extrusions to cannulas. Next-generation products could follow the new advances that MTD is enabling by instead using polypropylene for cannula products. In terms of technical execution, it is difficult to make a long, thin, straight part such as a cannula. The challenge lies in the fact that for a 0.005-in. wall thickness to flow long-distance, a tiny, delicate core pin must be centered precisely in the cavity. With long length of thin flow, it is impossible to fill an annular ring if material flow becomes uneven. When flow becomes unbalanced, a hydraulic effect is created on one side and pushes the core pin, which produces an ultra-thin wall on the opposite side. This, in turn, causes fill problems and distortion. Precise control over the position of the core is critical, which is why highly capable tooling and molding machines are required to successfully mold a thin-walled cannula for drug delivery. This control makes molding walls as thin as 0.03 mm possible at MTD.