2007 Winners
1st Place ($100,000) - Ocumedic (Auburn University)
OcuMedic is an ophthalmic drug delivery company with a proprietary, patent-pending technology that creates a new architecture in polymeric films to enable enhanced drug loading and delayed drug release for eye treatments including eye comfort, allergy, infection, and inflammation – a new drug delivery system via contact lenses.
Most ocular drugs are delivered via eye drops which are marginally effective because of poor patient compliance, high and/or insufficient dosages, irritation, side effects, and the fact that patients cannot wear contact lenses with medical eye drops. OcuMedic’s products can deliver medication more effectively and more conveniently versus current treatments. The company is led by Dr. Mark Byrne, an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Auburn University.
Since the competition, OcuMedic used the prize money to expand its intellectual property portfolio, including filing for international patent protection. The company has begun animal testing of the lenses at the Auburn University College of Veterinary Sciences.
2nd Place ($50,000) - Halo Monitoring (UAH)
Halo Monitoring (formerly Halo Research) is a medical device company focused on developing wearable biomedical systems for health and lifestyle monitoring. Halo’s first product, MyHalo, is positioned to address healthcare concerns for a large and growing population of independently living elderly adults. Unlike the majority of competing products which require users to manually press a panic button, Halo’s integrated system can automatically detect serious health concerns – even a user falling – without any active participation from the user, and remotely notify designated caregivers. The system includes wearable wireless technology for monitoring physiological signals, a wireless gateway for encrypting and transmitting physiological data to a secure health server, and a web-based interface to facilitate continuous and remote monitoring from anywhere in the world, anytime of day. The CEO of Halo Monitoring is Chris Otto, a recent graduate of the Master of Computer Science program at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Since the competition, the company was successful in raising $1 million of investment capital from the Huntsville Angel Network, Greer Capital Advisors and Jemison Investments Company. Halo Monitoring is currently incubated at BizTech and has 13 employees. The MyHalo system is available in Huntsville, Chicago and New Jersey. Visit the company's website.
3rd Place ($25,000) - Prodigy Biosystems (UAH)
Prodigy Biosystems (formerly IntelCell) is a cell-culture, technology-development company created to design, develop and market a new product platform to modernize research techniques for cell and tissue growth. The company's first product, InQ, will attempt to replace traditional cell culture equipment by providing a new level of usability and sophistication for the user. For scientists whose research depends upon live cell culture, InQ will offer a compact, precision, cell growth system that increases experimental control, improves sterility, provides digitization of data and methods, and reduces human error and labor costs. Unlike traditional cell culture methods such as the common Petri dish, Cell Drive™ provides increased control and convenience in a closed system. The company is led by CEO Aaron Hammons, a graduate of the Master of Science in Management program at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Since the competition in June 2007, Prodigy went on to raise $1.2 million from the Huntsville Angel Network and completed a market analysis survey with hundreds of researchers nationwide with very favorable results. According to CEO Aaron Hammons, "Prodigy now has six empmloyees, several interns, and innumerable consultants." Prodigy will begin beta testing of the InQ system in July with ten esteemed scientists in advanced research centers across the country. Hammons add, "The market launch of the InQ system will come at the October Society for Neuroscience conference in Chicago." The company is currently incubated at BizTech.
Please visit their website for more information.
Other Finalists
AT Biosciences, LLC (UAH)
Team is led by Dr. Jason Feng, a research professor in the Department of Biological Science. AT Biosciences has developed molecular biomarkers for academic research and clinical diagnosis using a new patent-pending technology.
Distributed Carpet Nylon Recycling (Auburn)
Team is led by Dr. Paul Swamidass, a Professor of Management at the College of Business. The company has developed a patented chemical process for recovery and recycling of nylon from waste carpet.
Facilitaire (UAB)
Team is led by Ron Baldwin, a 2005 graduate of the Master of Science in Electrical Engineering Program. Facilitaire uses prototyped tools for improving communications between IT professionals and business managers using a pay-for-use online platform. For more information, please visit their website.
Physician Innovations (UAB)
Team is led by Marc Krawitz, an alumnus of the Master of Business Administration Program. The company is a systems integration firm specializing in Electronic Medical Record (EMR) solutions for smaller medical facilities.
Q-Track (UAH)
Team is led by Jerome Gabig. Q-Track uses patented wireless technology using near-field electromagnetic ranging to track people and physical assets indoors on a real-time basis. For more information, please visit the company's website.
