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$100K Challenge Seeks Responsive Insulin Delivery

Diabetes Test (NIH)

(National Institutes of Health)

A new challenge at InnoCentive seeks new ideas for the development of “glucose-responsive insulin” that would respond to the needs of the individual rather than deliver fixed dosage amounts. The competition has a prize of $100,000 and requires a written proposal. The deadline for entries is 9 November 2011.

InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts is a company the conducts open-innovation crowd-sourcing competitions for corporate and organization sponsors. The sponsor of this challenge is the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) International.

JDRF is looking for ways to develop a new type of insulin to control and maintain normal blood glucose levels that would work only when the body needs it, and deliver the precise amount of insulin activity in response to circulating glucose levels. The solution — envisioned as a type of glucose-responsive insulin — would allow for tightly regulated internal delivery of physiologically relevant doses in response to local glucose concentrations in diabetes.  A complex electronic device, says JDRF, does not fit this challenge.

The sponsor expects that one or more winning solutions offered by participants will be further developed in a second phase of the competition. This second phase would refine the ideas into practice, in preclinical discovery and development leading to a proof-of-concept, possibly involving commercial partners as part of a larger project.

The award will be contingent upon an evaluation of the written proposals by JDRF.  The sponsor expects that up to four awards will be make to those solutions meeting all or most of the challenge requirements, up to a total award amount of $100,000.

The review and award decisions will be made by JDRF in consultation with a jury panel comprised of international experts. Award recipients will be required to transfer to JDRF their exclusive intellectual property rights to the solution.

Read more: Challenge Seeks Increase in Hepatitis C Treatment

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