Three Lakes Foundation and MATTER announce collaboration to source solutions for pulmonary fibrosis
Three Lakes Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the diagnosis, care and treatment of people suffering from pulmonary fibrosis (PF), and MATTER, the premier healthcare incubator and innovation hub, today announced the launch of a new innovation challenge focused on accelerating solutions for PF: a family of related lung diseases that causes progressive scarring of lung tissue and affects more than three million people around the world.
“Pulmonary fibrosis remains a confounding and fairly unknown disease. Delay in timely diagnoses results in lost time for optimal care and early therapeutic intervention,” said Dana Ball, executive director of Three Lakes Foundation. “We’re calling on healthcare innovators to think creatively about how to introduce new, cutting-edge solutions to the PF landscape that will improve time to diagnosis and preservation of quality of life.”
Three Lakes Foundation has committed more than $100,000 toward solutions that will help to advance disease awareness, shorten the time to diagnosis, preserve health and improve care for PF patients. Examples of desired solutions include:
Engagement tools and technologies that help patients, caregivers and providers better understand and engage with their disease
Data-enabled digital, medical or imaging tools that improve screening, detection and the accuracy of PF diagnosis
Novel interventions and tools that enable both patients and caregivers to preserve patient health, well-being and quality of life
New tools, technologies and solutions that improve upon the oxygen therapy that many people living with PF rely on (Examples include product and canister innovation and improvements in battery life)
“At MATTER, we take pride in helping partners accelerate the development of products and solutions that address conditions with high unmet clinical need,” said Arun Bhatia, senior director of partner engagement at MATTER. “We’re honored to be a part of the effort to improve care and quality of life for the PF community today, and to help foster the innovation that will lead to tomorrow’s cure.”
Challenge finalists will be invited to participate in an idea incubation period and bootcamp at MATTER, where they will refine their value proposition and perfect their pitch. The challenge will culminate in a final pitch day at MATTER on June 4, 2020, following an all-day PF Innovation Forum. The top solution will receive $50,000 and a one-year membership at MATTER.
Innovators with solutions of all stages, from early stage ideas and university-based concepts to marketed solutions, are encouraged to apply. Interested companies can learn more by visiting the competition website and by attending the information session at MATTER on Tuesday, March 24. Applications are due by 11:59pm CST on Tuesday, April 14.
