Two medical device startup companies from Kentucky, Inscope Medical Solutions and Liberate Medical, have been selected to join the MassCONNECT mentoring program. 

These companies are the first participants in MassCONNECT through the Kentucky—Massachusetts Turnpike, a partnership between the Kentucky Life Sciences Council (KLSC) and MassBio designed to foster collaboration between the two clusters and accelerate research to benefit patients and the healthcare system. 

MassCONNECT is the only entrepreneur mentorship program in Massachusetts that dives deep into the life sciences industry. Through MassCONNECT, these Kentucky-based medical device companies will have the chance to network with and receive mentoring from members of the Massachusetts innovation ecosystem. 

At an initial showcase, “MassCONNECT Derby Demo: Device Edition,” the companies presented their ideas to a room of industry executives and potential mentors for early feedback. The entrepreneurs will now be matched with mentors that possess expertise specific to the entrepreneurs’ objectives and business needs. 

The applicants chosen to participate are: Inscope Medical Solutions and Liberate Medical.

Inscope Medical Solutions is a medical device company focused on developing low cost, disposable, connected medical devices. Inscope’s first device is the Inscope Laryngoscope, an innovative technology that optimizes intubation, improving this high-risk procedure’s efficiency, speed, and safety—saving lives and lowering costs to healthcare providers. 

Liberate Medical has a mission to reduce the cost and improve the quality of care for patients with pulmonary disorders. Liberate’s first product, VentFree, is a non-invasive respiratory muscle stimulator intended to reduce the amount of time patients spend on mechanical ventilation (MV), prevent respiratory muscles weakness that occurs as a result of MV and is expected to considerably reduce hospital length of stay. 

“We are excited and honored to officially open the Kentucky—Massachusetts Turnpike with Inscope Medical Solutions and Liberate Medical,” said John Hallinan, MassBio's chief business officer, Turnpike co-founder and MassCONNECT mentor. “The Turnpike was created by MassBio and KLSC with the belief that innovation doesn’t recognize borders, and patients do not care where a therapy comes from, and both Inscope Medical Solutions and Liberate Medical validate our thesis. We are also happy to note that like MassBio’s MassCONNECT mentoring program, the Turnpike has no tolls, and we encourage life sciences innovators and entrepreneurs to learn more at http://kysciencecouncil.org/innovation-services/.” 

Past MassCONNECT graduates have leveraged the skills learned and advice provided through the program to secure industry collaborations, investment and grants, recruit company executives and win other industry and business plan competitions. 

MassCONNECT is open to opportunities that involve the development of new technologies, products, services, applications or processes in the life sciences area. Typically, these include new diagnostic tests, preclinical therapeutic molecules, platform technologies and/or instrumentation.