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'overwhelming demand' for innovative npower peg soon to be met thanks to new partnership

Someday, perhaps, we'll power our ever-growing number of personal electronic devices with something sustainable like biofuels or sunlight. Until then, the nPower PEG (personal energy device) will do nicely. Tremont Electric's clever gadget converts the motion of walking or running into energy, which it stores in a battery until you're ready to recharge your cell phone or iPod.
 
Cool, right? The only problem to date has been getting hold of one.
 
"The last 18 months have been pretty challenging," says vice president Jill LeMieux. The supplier of the custom battery used in the original design proved unable to keep up. At present there are about 2,000 nPower PEG's in use -- and 5,000 on back order. That's an encouraging but precarious situation for a small company.
 
But things should improve in late March; that's when Delta Systems in Streetsboro begins mass-producing nPower PEGs. Would-be owners' reward for waiting will be greater energy efficiency in the new models -- which Tremont Electric founder and CEO Aaron LeMieux attributes to advances in microprocessors -- and a standardized battery that holds twice the charge of the older ones.
 
Delta Systems has been "very supportive," Jill adds, fronting the tooling costs until sales ramp up. She expects to sell at least 1,000 units per month. In the near future they'll only be available through the website, but some retailers already are expressing interest. The product is a natural for stores serving runners, hikers and campers.
 
"What we've seen since the rollout of this product is overwhelming demand for it," says Aaron.
 
The company hears frequently from users who "love" the PEG, including servicemen in Afghanistan, who report that it has worked "flawlessly." And like the deal with Delta, a military order would be another big, energy-generating step forward for the tiny company. The PEG is also a finalist in the Edison Awards, which will be announced April 26. Tremont Electric also continues to work with universities and others on deploying buoys that would convert the motion of waves into large-scale energy production.
 
Notes Aaron, "It's going to get interesting around here, I can say that much."
 
 
Sources: Jill and Aaron LeMieux
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

cle-based milo biotechnology snags $250k investment from jumpstart

The effort to build a world-class biomedical industry in Northeast Ohio took another step forward last week, when JumpStart Inc. invested $250,000 in Milo Biotechnology, a new company formed to pursue promising treatments for muscle degeneration.

Columbia Station native Al Hawkins will serve as Milo's CEO. The former director of new ventures at Boston University, Hawkins returned to Northeast Ohio last year to serve as CEO in Residence at BioEnterprise, the Cleveland-based biotech incubation initiative, and to find emerging technologies worthy of investment. The adeno-associated virus (AAV) delivered follistatin protein developed and patented by researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus fit the bill. Follistatin can stimulate muscle growth, and early trials with mice and macaques suggest it could help patients suffering from muscular dystrophy and other conditions that weaken muscles, Hawkins says. According to JumpStart, a Phase I/II trial, funded by Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, is enrolling patients.
 
Hawkins will retain his position with BioEnterprise until Milo has raised at least $1.5 million. Longterm, his job will be to keep raising funds for the six to seven years it could take to get follistatin all the way through the FDA-approval process, or to hire a new CEO and find another new technology on which to build a company in Cleveland.
 
Moving back to Northeast Ohio, he says, “is something I considered for a couple years. There are great opportunities here.”
 
 
Source: Al Hawkins
Writer: Frank Lewis

Amtrust Financial to bring 800 new jobs to downtown cleveland

AmTrust Financial Services, a multi-national property and casualty insurer based in New York, is consolidating and relocating its Northeast Ohio operations to Cleveland. The expansion will bring 800 jobs to Cleveland over three years. The company currently employs 250 people in its operational hub in Seven Hills.
 
The decision to open offices in Cleveland came primarily from $25 million in local and state incentives. The company was able to buy the primarily vacant office tower at 800 Superior Avenue earlier this year and has committed to spending at least $20 million in upgrades to the building. But company officials also see the potential in Cleveland.
 
“We have found the governor [John Kasich], the county executive [Ed FitzGerald] and the mayor [Frank Jackson] of Cleveland all to be very cooperative and helpful in sealing our decision to locate in downtown Cleveland,” says AmTrust CFO Ron Pipoly. “We also think downtown Cleveland is on the cusp of a lot of great jobs, with the casino, the new convention center, the medical mart, the development of the Flats East Bank, a Westin Hotel downtown and other large projects that now includes AmTrust."
 
The Seven Hills employees will move to the Cleveland offices over the next three years. “Based on current projections provided to the state, there may be up to 800 new jobs, in addition to the 200 jobs being relocated from Seven Hills,” explains Pipoly. The jobs will be in IT programming, underwriting and customer service.

Under current plans, AmTrust wil occupy between 250,000 and 300,000 square feet in the building, leaving a portion of the total 450,000 square feet available for other new downtown tenants. 

Source: Ron Pipoly
Writer: Karin Connelly

(Courtesy sister publication FreshWater Cleveland)

Cleveland businessman is headed to Vietnam after winning Fulbright

Michael Goldberg might be the most multi-talented Cleveland entrepreneur you’ll ever want to know. Not only did he co-found a company that invests in Israeli medical device companies connected to the region’s thriving health care economy, but now he’s moving to Vietnam after receiving a Fulbright to teach entrepreneurship there.

This January, the brains behind Bridge Investment Fund will try to convey what he’s learned in two decades of international business experience to students half a world away, where many may see venture capital as an intriguing, new concept.  

Goldberg has taught courses on both entrepreneurial finance and the economic impact of immigrant entrepreneurs as an Adjunct Professor at Case Western Reserve University. He will move to Hanoi, Vietnam for five months with his wife and three children to teach at the National Economic University there thanks to the Fulbright award. He plans to lecture on expanding access to early stage capital to Vietnamese companies. He is also hoping to work with leading venture capital funds and entrepreneurs in Vietnam to build networks there.

“The Fulbright will enable me to better connect my students, portfolio companies and network in Cleveland to expanding opportunities in Asia,” says Goldberg. 

Goldberg was also recently appointed as a Senior Advisor to Kaiwu Capital, a China-based venture capital fund. He plans to continue to work for Bridge Investments and Kaiwu Capital abroad, and says his work may lead to new opportunities at home.

“I’ve already had companies in Cleveland ask me to keep an eye out for business opportunities while I’m there,” says Goldberg, who adds that Ohio-based companies that are doing business in emerging markets are helping to fuel domestic growth.

If Goldberg needs further credence cities as disparate as Cleveland and Hanoi are increasingly interconnected, he has to look no farther than his daughter’s new cello teacher. She was referred by a Hanoi doctor who trained at the Cleveland Clinic.

“I’ve already been introduced to several people from Cleveland,” says Goldberg with a chuckle. “I like to call this the ‘Cleveland diaspora’ – we are everywhere. ”

Cleveland puts out welcome mat to the world

The growth of Cleveland into a major industrial powerhouse in the late 1800s and early 1900s was fueled by the labor and entrepreneurial skills of millions of immigrants. Arriving from Slovakia, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Italy, and Germany, they eagerly filled Cleveland jobs.

After nearly a decade of sliding population figures, Cleveland is now looking to recapture the momentum of those early days of robust economic growth by putting out a high-profile welcome mat to immigrants and others through the new Global Cleveland organization.

Global Cleveland focuses on regional economic development by attracting, welcoming and connecting newcomers, both economically and socially, to the many opportunities available throughout Greater Cleveland.

While the program officially launched in July, the Global Cleveland Welcome Hub will open this fall in the center of downtown Cleveland, according to Baiju Shah, chairman of the organization’s board.

“Global Cleveland will focus on all newcomers with active newcomer attraction initiatives to recruit individuals not currently residing in the Cleveland region,” he explains.

The target audience of newcomers includes immigrants, international students attending local universities and colleges, and “boomerangs”-- native Clevelanders returning to town.

The organization has four strategies: attraction, retention, connection and communication.

“We’ve discovered that many ex-Clevelanders have only limited information about both the economy and the region that was once their home,” Shah explains. “Once presented with the rich set of new opportunities here, they are pleasantly surprised and interested in learning more.”

Global Cleveland is developing a series of initiatives for attracting and retaining newcomers. Programs currently under way aim at showcasing job opportunities in health care, biomedical, IT and financial services.

“We’re also creating a resource directory to help newcomers get more quickly connected to the community,” he says.

The program has developed a host of partnerships with community organizations, agencies, universities and ethnic groups. “We will be establishing a network of welcome centers across the region,” Shah notes. “These centers will include information and resources to help newcomers get connected to both professional opportunities and to community resources throughout the region.”

Source:  Baiju Shah, Global Cleveland
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

Realeflow: Creating order out of chaos

When Greg Clement was involved in real estate sales, he was, by his own admission, disorganized.

“We were a small business operating with papers and folders everywhere and lots of sticky notes,” he recalls. “Trying to keep track of all the moving parts of a real estate transaction was making us crazy. It was completely inefficient, and we wasted a lot of time trying to find stuff when we needed it.”

Clement realized that he needed a system, but discovered that the only effective way to manage things was to “cobble a bunch of different programs together and hope for the best,” he notes.

To salvage the situation, he developed a software system for small business management and hired a programmer to write it.

“It ended up being so helpful to us that we wanted to offer it to others in the real estate industry,” he explains.

He established Realeflow in 2007 to offer the software, which he named OpenRoad.

“OpenRoad is web-based software that provides a comprehensive business management system for people in real estate,” Clement says. “It helps them attract new customers, manage those customers and ensure repeat purchases by those customers.”

The software program is available in both a standard and a professional version, which provides assistance in conducting marketing campaigns, creating legal forms, generating leads, and handling rehab projects.

“As a business management system, OpenRoad pulls everything together -- email, website, social media and video -- and has morphed into one-easy-to-use marketing automation platform,” Clement explains. ”It’s like putting your business on steroids, but without the nasty side effects.”

Realeflow, based in Parma Heights, has grown from just Clement and an assistant to 32 employees.

“As we’ve become proficient at Internet marketing, we’re offering webinars on what we’ve learned,” he says. The company offers on-line courses on “Facebook Domination” and “Smart Internet Marketing Solutions.”

Clement now wants to help businesses beyond the real estate field create order out of chaos.

“We’ll be branching out in 2012 and creating organizational software products for different industries, like restaurants, mortgage companies, small retail stores and construction,” he reports.

Source: Greg Clement, Realeflow
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

VasoStar helping surgeons "tap" through deadly occlusions

The manual “tapping” of surgeons, intent on breaking through life-threatening occlusions, could soon be replaced by vibrating tip guidewires, says Stephanie Harrington, chief operating officer of VasoStar Inc. The company, a subsidiary of Frantz Medical Group in Mentor, is collaborating with Cleveland Clinic and Interplex Medical LLC of Milford, on the plaque-busting technology.

The company was formed in 2007 to “develop technology invented in Israel and brought to us through one of our clinician colleagues at Stanford University,” says Harrington. The vibrating guidewires let cardiologists open up totally blocked arteries much faster than the current manual method.

Lesions that have been there for some time, called chronic total occlusions, become calcified and very difficult to penetrate with a tiny guidewire only .014 in. diameter. Currently, the clinician is about 300 cm away from the lesion, outside of the patient’s leg, gently tapping to force the guidewire through the calcified surface.

“What we’ve done is increase the speed of the tapping and move that tapping source up near the point of the lesion,” says Harrington. The power source, a tiny electromagnetic engine, creates a high-frequency vibration. “This will allow patients with CTOs to be treated with interventional techniques versus invasive bypass surgery.”

The Ohio Third Frontier Commission, which supports the commercialization of products in the biomedical, medical imaging and sensors industries, recently awarded VasoStar $1 million to help develop the technology, which is still in the product-development stage. Harrington said clinical trials should start in about 18 months. The company employs four “fulltime equivalents” on loan from Frantz Medical and Harrington expects to add 12 to 15 positions over the next two years.  

Source: Stephanie A. S. Harrington, Frantz Medical Development Ltd.
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

Food service stalwart Bettcher moving into biomedical sphere with $1 million Third Frontier award

From food service equipment and industrial cutting products to the world of bioscience innovation seems an unlikely leap for a business to make. But Birmingham-based Bettcher Industries is about to accomplish just that, awarded a $1 million Ohio Third Frontier grant to launch a new biomedical product line.

The grant, among $13 million announced on July 15, pairs Bettcher with Community Tissue Services, a Dayton non-profit tissue bank. The partners' $1 million will fund an initial 18-month project to launch Bettcher Medical Debridement Technologies, adapting current products for use in the biomedical field.

"We've been working with Community Tissue for about three years already, but in a very limited way" explains Bettcher president and COO Don Esch. "We recognized early on that a lot of our products were not entirely dissimilar from the kinds of things that were needed in their field. (The grant) is going to open a whole new world for us."

Founded as a machine shop in Cleveland in 1944, Bettcher has become an international business with offices in Switzerland, Brazil and China, among others, and sales to more than 50 countries worldwide. The company moved to Birmingham in the early 1970s, becoming a local landmark with its signature red-barn corporate headquarters just south of the Ohio Turnpike.

The new biomedical line will put existing products -- ranging from precision circular knives to pneumatic cutting tools -- to use in tissue and bone recovery. The powered circular knives already used in meat processing and taxidermy can also be used to harvest layers of skin for use in the treatment of burn patients. Meanwhile, other Bettcher products are ideally suited to harvesting bone and marrow for other transplant surgeries.

Initially, it will also mean 11 new jobs for Bettcher during the run of the 18-month launch, with the possibility of another 40-50 new jobs once the product line gains momentum, adds Esch.

"It's pretty sophisticated stuff, coming from a little red barn in the middle of a cornfield in Ohio," he chuckles.

Source: Don Esch, Bettcher Industries
Writer: Dave Malaska

Che International Group, founder, set milestones with rapid growth

Christopher Che formed Che International Group, LLC in 2005 with the goal of acquiring and growing subsidiary companies from diverse industries.

Since then, Che's first acquisition -- Hooven Dayton Corp., which he purchased in 2007 -- has doubled its revenues (from $10 million in 2007 to $20 million in 2010) and made an acquisition of its own -- Benchmark Graphics of Richmond, Ind.

On June 27, Che International made its second acquisition -- Akron-based Digital Color Imaging, which was promptly renamed Digital Color International, Che says. Altogether, Che International now employs about 150 and primarily serves Fortune 1,000 customers, Che says.

The acquisition of Digital Color, which provides digital, offset and wide format printing as well as direct mail, warehousing and fulfillment services, complements Hooven Dayton, a Dayton-based provider of high quality prime product labels, flexible packaging, promotional coupons and specialty printing solutions, Che says.

"Our goal is for the Che International Group to have subsidiary companies across industry lines but serving the same customer base," he explains.

Che's success as a small-business leader during a slow economy has been noticed not just in west central Ohio but by the White House. In May, he was asked to host a "listening session" of President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. In June, Che was appointed to the council itself. 

"They felt I could bring my expertise to the council as a small business," he says "and help explain what it takes to grow during tough times and what some of our issues are."

How has he been able to grow?

"We focused on really training our people and we did not cut down on marketing budgets," he says."And we developed a very highly impactful value proposition to take to customers -- a value proposition that would make a difference to their bottom line."

Che, who came to the United States from Camaroon in 1980 to attend college, says Ohio has been "a beautiful place for me. It's proven to be very supportive. Whenever I needed them they were there to help me with low-interest loans or training and so forth."

Meanwhile, Che International Group is working on additional acquisitions as well as companies that might merge with Digital Color, Che says.

Source: Christopher Che, Che International Group
Writer: Gene Monteith



 

AvMat guides startups from concept to marketplace

Some of the technology we'll be using in a few years -- diesel fuel made from recycled plastics and micro electronic devices that detect pathogens in the air -- are being coaxed into the marketplace today by AvMat, a consultancy based in Akron that helps bring new technology to commercialization.

Joe Hensel, CEO, started the firm in 2003 and has since worked with at least 20 start-ups to guide them in their journey from big idea to commercial success.

A former chemical engineer with an MBA in finance who has worked with multinational aerospace and automotive companies, Hensel says his background in R&D and manufacturing gives him a good vantage point to help entrepreneurs take their ventures to the next level.

AvMat specializes in aerospace, electronics and alternative energy businesses. The intellectual property frequently comes through university and government labs where scientists who create it are unfamiliar with the workings of the business world. AvMat offers advice in legal, managerial, financial, operational and branding and marketing services.

Polyflow, a client for the past six years, is a typical example of the type of business he works with. Polyflow takes recycled plastic and rubber materials and creates gasoline, diesel fuel and feedstock for engineering polymers that could be used in place of those normally made from crude oil and natural gas. Over the next year or two, Polyflow could begin commercial sales.

AvMat evolved from Ohio Polymer Enterprise Development, an initiative by the University of Akron to commercialize advanced material technologies for fuel cells.

Today Hensel is sole owner of the company and AvMat is now an equity stake holder in several of the firms that it has worked with. In addition to Hensel, AvMat has one employee. There are no plans to add new employees at this point, says Hensel.

Source: Joe Hensel, AvMat
Writer: Val Prevish


LifeSaving Medical Solutions' device makes cameo on "ER"

Any sober driver knows you can see better in dark places with your headlights on. Akron based LifeSaving Medical Solutions is applying the same principle to tricky emergency and surgical intubations. And their device was new-tech enough to land on a 2009 episode of NBC's ER.

Developed by physician Noam Gavriely and manufactured in Israel in response to the sometimes difficult intubations of wounded military personnel, ETView's Tracheoscopic Ventilation Tube incorporates a video camera and lighted tip to allow medical personnel to see, on any connected monitor, the pathway the device is traveling -- making certain the tube arrives in the appropriate place. Once ETView is in place, the system allows ongoing visual monitoring of the airway, which, it turns out, is very important.

Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP) can occur when excess excretions build up in airways. In addition to making patients very ill, VAP creates millions of dollars each year in additional hospital costs. ETView's ongoing airway visualization allows hospital staff to determine when removal of secretions is needed to avoid this complication.

LifeSaving Medical Solutions CEO, Eric Cooper, says growth of the company, since it's founding in 2009 has been slow -- about 2 percent per year -- as the sales force works its way through hospital purchasing committees. But several current studies -- and the fact that the company has been able to reduce the core cost of the device by nearly 50 percent -- should begin to spur growth in the near future.

"We're the only one with this technology," Cooper says, "and several doctors want to get involved with us and champion its use."

Source: Eric Cooper, LifeSaving Medical Solutions
Writer: Dana Griffith


Fluence Therapeutics explores photodynamic therapy for skin ailments

Fluence Therapeutics believes it's found a better way to treat skin ailments like psoriasis using a new light therapy.

The Akron company formed in 2009 to commercialize photodynamic therapy technology developed at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Case Medical Center.

"We are commercializing photodynamic therapy using Pc 4, a novel photosensitizer," says CEO Warren Goldenberg. "Our initial application is the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis." 

Goldenberg explains that "photodynamic therapy involves both a pharmaceutical (the photosensitizer) and a light source which activates the photosensitizer to kill certain cells. We are developing two products: a photosensitizer containing Pc 4 as its active ingredient and a light source (device)."

Current treatment for moderate to severe psoriasis is light therapy and systemic pharmaceuticals. Light therapy can involve the use of ultraviolet light B (UVB) alone or a combination of ultraviolet light A (UVA) combined with systemically or topically administered psoralen (PUVA).

"We believe our products will have higher efficacy than current light-based therapies and, since they use red light, they do not create the cancer risk of current UV therapies," Goldenberg says.

"Moderate to severe psoriasis is also treated with systemic (i.e., taken orally or by injection) pharmaceuticals distributed by major pharmaceutical companies and generic manufacturers. Many of these medications are used for other diseases, including arthritis. Biological therapies, however, do not work in all patients. They suppress the immune system and have been shown to have a number of side effects including increased rates of infections and potentially increased rates of certain kinds of cancers (particularly lymphomas). They are contraindicated in many cases (e.g., for patients with infections or compromised immune systems) and they are very expensive," he says.

Human clinical trials are underway at University Hospitals Case Medical Center with support from the National Institutes of Health. The technology has been developed with over $32,000,000 of funding from the NIH.

Fluence has three part-time employees. Provided it obtains sufficient funding, the company hopes to grow to 40 employees over five years, including management, product development (engineers and chemists), clinical, regulatory and business development.

Source: Warren Goldenberg, Fluence Therapeutics
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney


Engineers, Lady Gaga and a guy dancing in a chain-mail suit

Imagine seeing music converted into lightening. That's what you'll witness at a performance by Case Western Reserve University's Tesla Orchestra.

The group has the world's largest twin musical tesla coils. They're 13 feet tall and generate 13-to-18-feet-long lightening streaks to music that includes the theme from the movie "2001:A Space Odyssey" and songs by Lady Gaga, the B-52s and Girl Talk.

Ian Charnas, who received undergraduate degrees in computer engineering and mechanical engineering from Case in 2005, started the Tesla Orchestra in 2008.

"At schools offering engineering degrees, civil engineering students typically design a bridge, and mechanical engineering students design a car," he explains. "There wasn't a standard project for electrical engineering students. I thought this would be a cool electrical project with lots of facets and challenges to it that could also include mechanical engineering students."

Twenty undergraduate and graduate electrical and mechanical engineering students are involved in the Tesla Orchestra, as well as some alumni and staff.

Ed Burwell, the Sears Undergraduate Design Laboratory Director in Case's School of Engineering, provides guidance to the students.

Having both electrical engineering students and mechanical engineering students collaborate on this is important," he explains. "It gives electrical engineering students something unusual to work on with a lot of challenges they wouldn't experience with more mundane projects, and mechanical engineering students are solving problems that contribute to the form and function of the tesla coils. Students in both disciplines are getting valuable insights into real-world design."

The Tesla Orchestra performed in Croatia and the Netherlands last summer and recently entertained more than 600 fans at Cleveland's Masonic Auditorium. Through its new Open Spark Project, the Tesla Orchestra is inviting musicians everywhere to submit their songs to be performed.

Although Charnas has graduated from Case and runs a company that develops websites and i-phone apps, he is still very much involved in the Tesla Orchestra. "I interact and dance with the lightening in a full-body chain-mail suit during our concerts," he says, noting that the electricity goes through the chain mail suit and not through him. "Everyone needs a hobby," he remarks. "This is mine."

Sources: Ian Charnas, founder Tesla Orchestra, and Ed Burwell, Case Western Reserve University
Writer: Lynne Meyer

Cosmic Bobbins puts 'upcycling' to work for people, planet and profit

Cleveland's Sharie Renee is passionate about unused magazines, annual reports and brochures.  The founder and CEO of Cosmic Bobbins uses them to do something positive for people, the planet and profits.

Renee gets old publications from companies and organizations. "I then 'upcycle' the paper by getting it transformed into one-of-a-kind accessories with parts of the organization's logo and design appearing on them," she explains.

The transformation is done for Cosmic Bobbins by residents of a small, low-income town in Mexico, using an indigenous technique of folding and weaving decorative paper. Renee first learned of the traditional craft while visiting Mexico.

She has had the residents create pencil holders for University Circle from its old annual reports and make scissors cases for Paul Mitchell hair stylists using the company's old brochures. The Cleveland Botanical Gardens sells Cosmic Bobbins' purses -- made from the organization's old newsletters -- in its gift shop.

"We're giving organizations back their paper waste remade into something beautiful and desirable," Renee explains.

Cosmic Bobbins isn't just about upcycling paper into colorful accessories, however.

"We're giving back to the world one magazine at a time," she explains.

Renee does so by paying the Mexican artisans a fair wage for their work. She also employs up to 38 clients of United Cerebral Palsy of Cleveland, who sort the paper by color or size in a sheltered work environment. By providing fair wages to both groups, she's helping relieve poverty and create jobs.

Renee has a clear vision for Cosmic Bobbins. "We're committed to creating a global community with a focus on sustainability and social good, where people are meaningfully employed and there's a spirit of hope," she explains.

Source: Sharie Renee, Cosmic Bobbins
Writer: Lynne Meyer

Thermedx adding jobs behind success of surgical irrigation devices

Since 2007, Thermedx, LLC has added 15 new jobs in Ohio and is hoping to double that number in the next few years.

So far, the success of its first product has it going in the right direction.

The Solon-based comapny develops medical devices used by hospitals and surgery centers for fluid management and patient warming. Thermedx' first product, a surgical irrigation fluid management system, has applications in gynecology, urology and general surgery.

Called "the 375," the device combines five functions into one device. The fluid-warming function helps surgical patients maintain normal body temperature of 37�C, which is targeted by Medicare's Surgical Care Improvement Project. Launched in January, Thermedx is now phasing into national expansion.

"The patent pending 375 is the only FDA 510(k) cleared fluid management device capable of fluid pressure or flow control, on-demand fluid warming, and fluid deficit monitoring," says Executive VP Michael Haritakis.

Since 2007, Thermedx has added 15 new jobs, completed product engineering and development of its first product, obtained FDA approval, raised about $5.2 million in equity and $2 million in debt, including $1.275 million from the Ohio Department of Development Innovation Fund.

"We appreciate the financial support provided by the State of Ohio's Technology Investment Tax Credit Program and Ohio Innovation Fund Loan Program, and we hope to receive a Third Frontier biomedical grant, which would help us to add jobs," says Haritakis.

By 2013, Thermedx plans to add about 30 jobs in engineering, sales, marketing and manufacturing.

Royal Pains on the USA Network, Greys Anatomy and Private Practice have expressed an interest in showcasing the company's 37-5 Fluid Management System.

Source: Michael Haritakis; Exec. VP, Thermedx, LLC
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

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