Edison Nation Medical Joins the PROTECT Initiative to Uncover Innovative Solutions for Preventing Medication Overdoses in Children

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Edison Nation Medical, the premier healthcare innovation marketplace joins the PROTECT Initiative, an innovative collaboration focused on keeping children safe from unintentional medication overdoses, to search for innovations to reduce accidental medication overdoses in children. Started in 2008, the PROTECT Initiative brings together public health agencies, private sector companies, professional organizations, consumer/patient advocates, and academic experts all focused on this important yet preventable health concern.

Each year, more than 60,000 children under the age of 6 are taken to the emergency department (ED) for accidental medication overdoses. The greater use of over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medications by people of all ages has led to an increase in the number of unintentional overdoses and children are especially vulnerable.  Recent national data estimate that each year in the United States:

• 1 in 67 children will be taken to an ED by age 5 for accessing and ingesting too much medicine on their own or unintentionally being given too much medicine
• Over 90% of ED visits for unintentional medication overdoses among children under the age of 6 involve children who get into medicine on their own when an adult is not paying attention (unsupervised ingestions)
• Other ED visits for unintentional overdose among young children are due to medication errors.  A common error is when caregivers measure and administer too much medicine by mistake.

According to a recent study in the journal Pediatrics, a child receives the wrong medication or the wrong dosage every eight minutes in the United States, and nearly 700,000 calls were made to poison centers after children under 6 years old experienced an out-of-hospital medication error between 2002 and 2012.  Of these episodes, one in four of the children was under 1 year old.

"Unintentional medication ingestions and errors in young children are preventable.  Using a data-driven approach, PROTECT Initiative partners are working to improve child-resistant safety packaging and dosing directions," said Dan Budnitz, MD, MPH (CAPT, USPHS), who directs the Medication Safety Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The PROTECT Initiative encourages innovative approaches to addressing unintentional overdoses in children. The Edison Nation Medical innovation search provides a unique opportunity to collect, evaluate and commercialize new ideas for addressing this problem.

Edison Nation Medical welcomes innovations that include, but are not limited to:

• Improving medication packaging to reduce harm from unsupervised ingestions
• Refining dosing measures on medication packaging, including dosing devices
• Child-resistant medication management systems

Idea submissions may include devices, technologies or apps. The search is open to the public, and individuals and small businesses from around the world are encouraged to submit inventions through the confidential portal at www.EdisonNationMedical.com/protect through Thursday, April 30, 2015. All invention ideas will be evaluated by Edison Nation Medical's team of medical, intellectual property and product development experts, in consultation with PROTECT Initiative experts. Edison Nation Medical will then work to commercialize the most promising inventions with leading medical and packaging manufacturers, sharing all licensing royalties or revenues with successful inventors.

About Edison Nation Medical
Edison Nation Medical is a healthcare innovation marketplace with deep expertise in open innovation, product development, and medicine. Born out of collaboration with Carolinas HealthCare System, one of the largest public health system in the United States, Edison Nation Medical's mission is to break down the barriers to healthcare innovation. We make this a reality by providing a clear and easy pathway through our open innovation platform for anyone — physicians, nurses, entrepreneurs, even patients and caregivers — to submit a medical invention idea for full evaluation and potential commercialization.

Edison Nation Medical innovation headquarters is in Charlotte, NC with satellite offices in San Francisco and New York City. For more information, please visit www.EdisonNationMedical.com or find Edison Nation Medical on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

About the PROTECT Initiative
Started in 2008, the PROTECT Initiative is an innovative collaboration bringing together public health agencies, private sector companies, professional organizations, consumer/patient advocates, and academic experts to develop strategies to keep children safe from unintentional medication overdoses.

SOURCE Edison Nation Medical

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