Buffalo-based Medical Acoustics has been working with the University at Buffalo to bring a new medical device to the market which will hopefully turn a profit for the company in 2011.
The device they have been working on is called a Lung Flute. It is a handheld device that uses sound waves to break up mucus in the lungs of those who have respiratory illnesses such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. The Lung Flute looks like a hollow tube with a reed inside, and patients simply exhale into the device.
The Lung Flute has gained national exposure on an episode of "The Doctors" in a segment titled "How to Get it Out" in 2010. The Lung Flute was also named one of Popular Science magazine's top 100 innovations of 2009.
UB has partnered with Medical Acoustics since 2002 and has done a great deal of work in helping to commercialize the Lung Flute. They began shipping orders to the U.S. hospital market in November and plans have been made to sell the device in the European Union and Asia. Medical Acoustics, located in the Innovation Center on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus has utilized universities in the areas to their advantage.
"UB has made all the difference," said Frank Codella, CEO of Medical Acoustics. "Originally, because the inventor of the Lung Flute was in New York City, we did some work with institutions there. The resources and attention we've gotten from UB far exceed anything we received from the folks in New York."
In 2003, the company drafted their first business plan with the help of UB's Office of Science, Technology Transfer, and Economic Outreach. They continued working and found the product's key market, 12 million patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Sanjay Sethi, professor of medicine, has been working with the Lung Flute carefully and has been a critical part of its development.
Sethi has done studies that cleared the Lung Flute by the US Food and Drug Administration. He is now conducting a six-month trial with 80 patients to examine the Lung Flute's longevity. Sethi is very proud of his work with the project and has called it rewarding. He went to say how valuable partnerships and research are to an industry.
"It's something everyone's so conscious of -- the need to create employment opportunities here," Codella said. "When you can create a business and create good jobs, there's a real sense of accomplishment."
Codella will speak on Thursday January, 27th at the Center of Excellence. His lecture will be a part of the center's Life Sciences Commercialization Lecture Series. For more information on his lecture you can visit this site.
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The device they have been working on is called a Lung Flute. It is a handheld device that uses sound waves to break up mucus in the lungs of those who have respiratory illnesses such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. The Lung Flute looks like a hollow tube with a reed inside, and patients simply exhale into the device.
The Lung Flute has gained national exposure on an episode of "The Doctors" in a segment titled "How to Get it Out" in 2010. The Lung Flute was also named one of Popular Science magazine's top 100 innovations of 2009.
UB has partnered with Medical Acoustics since 2002 and has done a great deal of work in helping to commercialize the Lung Flute. They began shipping orders to the U.S. hospital market in November and plans have been made to sell the device in the European Union and Asia. Medical Acoustics, located in the Innovation Center on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus has utilized universities in the areas to their advantage.
"UB has made all the difference," said Frank Codella, CEO of Medical Acoustics. "Originally, because the inventor of the Lung Flute was in New York City, we did some work with institutions there. The resources and attention we've gotten from UB far exceed anything we received from the folks in New York."
In 2003, the company drafted their first business plan with the help of UB's Office of Science, Technology Transfer, and Economic Outreach. They continued working and found the product's key market, 12 million patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Sanjay Sethi, professor of medicine, has been working with the Lung Flute carefully and has been a critical part of its development.
Sethi has done studies that cleared the Lung Flute by the US Food and Drug Administration. He is now conducting a six-month trial with 80 patients to examine the Lung Flute's longevity. Sethi is very proud of his work with the project and has called it rewarding. He went to say how valuable partnerships and research are to an industry.
"It's something everyone's so conscious of -- the need to create employment opportunities here," Codella said. "When you can create a business and create good jobs, there's a real sense of accomplishment."
Codella will speak on Thursday January, 27th at the Center of Excellence. His lecture will be a part of the center's Life Sciences Commercialization Lecture Series. For more information on his lecture you can visit this site.
Amazing!