Fosmo Med shares progress they’ve made since winning the Philips Innovation Fellows Competition

Q&A with Fosmo Med CEO, Ben Park

 

 

Last year, Fosmo Med, developer of the Maji intravenous (IV) saline bag, was selected as the grand prize winner of the first-ever Philips Innovation Fellows competition, revealing the technology as the next big, meaningful innovation in health and well-being.  The new IV solution technology has the potential to save millions of lives worldwide from dehydration-related diseases, such as cholera.   Maji is a revolutionary field hydration system for IV use that is shipped without water. Once on site, forward osmosis technology converts local water -- even if it's not clean -- to a sterile solution without requiring any power.  An estimated 16 Maji bags can be shipped for the same cost as one traditional IV saline bag, saving up to $500 for every 14 units shipped.*   The Philips Innovation Fellows team caught up with Fosmo Med to see how their project has progressed since winning the competition.

Q:  How has winning Innovation Fellows impacted your company and the development of Maji?

A: Winning the $60,000 helped fund the research and development completion for Maji, but, more importantly, the funding validated the idea of Maji and brought credibility to the product and company, which has raised its profile to investors. In fact, we have received additional interest since winning the contest, which is very exciting.

 

Q:  What does the next one to two years look like for Maji?

A: We have three key areas of focus for the next two years. First, we need to focus on regulatory approvals. Now that the final prototype of Maji is currently being created, we will begin to work with the Food and Drug Administration on classification and testing of the device. Simultaneously, we will also begin testing with the European CE Mark.

 

In the meantime, we will also continue to focus on funding. Following the Innovation Fellows contest, investors began to take note of Maji. It says a lot when a respected company like Philips supports your idea. As a result, we are now speaking with numerous investors and have even received some interesting requests for proposal.

 

Then, once Maji is approved by regulatory agencies, we can begin contracting with healthcare organizations and government subsidized healthcare institutions in countries such as India and Brazil. 

 

Q: What were your biggest takeaways from the contest?

 

A: After touring the Philips Healthcare campus in Massachusetts, it was clear Fosmo Med and Philips share the same goal: to save lives – and this is important to us because we see real examples where Maji could save lives all the time.

 

For instance, we have heard from those who were in Haiti to treat Cholera after the recent break that often the doctors and aids of NGOs had to bring suitcases full of IV bags with them on their flights, and they had to pay $150 or more in airline fees for each bag.  Then, after landing, they have to trek to remote towns to sometimes find they only have enough bags to treat half the village. We know that our product can fix these issues and help relief organizations provide aide to more people.