Mintz is pleased to announce the winners of M2D2’s 5th Annual $100K Challenge, a start-up competition focused on identifying and rewarding disruptive companies in the medical technology and biotechnology industries.  The firm hosted the awards ceremony on April 6th in its Boston office.

Winners of the competition each received in-kind support from the competition’s sponsors equaling $100,000, including in-kind legal services from Mintz, a Platinum Sponsor of the event.  The winners of this year’s competition were:

• 1st Place Innoblative - RFA applicator for breast cancer
• 2nd Place (tie) LaunchPad Medical - Bone glue
• 2nd Place (tie) Biorasis - Smallest, most accurate continuous glucose monitoring
• 3rd Place (tie) Kohana - Breast pump
• 3rd Place (tie) Disease Diagnostic - Low cost, portable, reusable device to detect malaria & other diseases
• Honorable Mention  Cre8MDI - Cardiovascular risk
• Peoples Choice  NonSpec - Low cost, high functionality replacement limbs

Additional companies were recognized by and will receive support from Boston Scientific (Astraeus Technologies, Vital Sines and Embryyo) and Becton Dickinson (Fluid Screen and Clinitech).

“The competition in the program has grown from good to amazing in just 5 years. The quality and preparedness of the dozens of companies in this year’s challenge was remarkable and made the job of judging them very difficult,” said William Geary, a Member of Mintz Intellectual Property Section and a long-time member of M2D2’s Advisory Board.   “Mintz is proud to support M2D2 and excited to have had the opportunity to coach most of the entrepreneurs behind the finalist companies.”

 “The professionals at M2D2, including Steve McCarthy, Steve Tello, Nate Safer and MaryAnn Picard, are fantastic to work with. They are entrepreneurs in their own rights, having created M2D2 from the ground up, getting the support of the University system and the Commonwealth, as well as many local corporations. It’s a real pleasure to be working with them,” added John Condon, an attorney in the firm’s Corporate Section is also a member of the M2D2 Advisory Board

University of Massachusetts President Marty Meehan was on hand to kick-off the awards night and recognized the intensity of effort that lead to creating M2D2 at UMass Lowell and the pride he feels in seeing the collaboration with the Worcester campus which strengthens the venture and serves as a great example for the success which can be achieved through collaborative efforts among the University of Massachusetts campuses across the Commonwealth. 

President Meehan introduced State Senator Eileen Donoghue, who represents the 1st Middlesex District of Massachusetts, which includes Lowell. A former Mayor and City Councilor of Lowell, Senator Donoghue is a tremendous supporter of UMass Lowell and M2D2. She spoke with pride of the business opportunity represented by M2D2 and the companies it fosters. Senator Donoghue highlighted M2D2’s economic impact, referencing the Donoghue Institute’s Innovation Effect report produced at the end of 2015 that M2D2 has contributed $75.5 million to the economy in 2014. 

“We are extremely pleased with the success of the 5th Annual $100K Challenge. More than 70 companies applied from across the US and from as far away as India. The entrepreneurs brought amazing technology to the program and the competition was intense,” said Stephen P. McCarthy, Ph.D., a founding Director of M2D2 and a tenured Professor in U Mass Lowell’s Department of Plastics Engineering. “Our sponsors, including Mintz, BD, Boston Scientific, MPR, Omni, R&Q, and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center were totally engaged and incredibly supportive. Ultimately the awards went to companies which are going to have tremendous impact on the life sciences industry.”

About the M2D2 $100K Challenge
The M2D2 $100K challenge is a start-up competition focused on identifying and rewarding disruptive companies in the medical technology and biotechnology industries. In its 5th year, the competition saw more applicants and finalists than in 2016 than in any prior year. The level of company applying to compete has increased each year and included multiple past MassChallenge winners this year and recipients of funding from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. 

About M2D2
The Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center (M2D2) is a lifeline for the state’s smaller medical device companies, offering inventors and executives easy, affordable, and coordinated access to world-class researchers and resources at the Lowell and Worcester campuses of the University of Massachusetts. M2D2 leverages the engineering, business and clinical strengths of the UMass campuses in Lowell and Worcester to provide fee-based services in the areas of business planning, product prototype development and clinical pathway assistance

About Mintz
Mintz is a firm of approximately 550 attorneys and senior professionals with offices across the country and in London, UK. We are passionate about the life sciences industry and about helping start-ups achieve success. Advising entrepreneurs on the formation and growth of new businesses is a cornerstone of our practice. We help them build networks, structure their business, develop strategic plans, protect their ideas, secure financing, and put together the requisite employment and benefits programs. We thrive when our clients thrive and we are committed to supporting the start-up community, writ large and in the cites in which we work and live – Boston, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, and  Washington DC.