Buffalo could be on the cusp of something big – much like the invention of the implantable pacemaker by Wilson Greatbatch some seven decades ago – with a medical device breakthrough that could save lives and help build a new industry here.
Greatbatch’s pacemaker put Buffalo at the forefront of medical device invention. The Vicora Vibrato catheter has the potential to create similar synergy.
The News’ Jon Harris introduced readers to Vicora Inc., a located at The Rookery Labs on the Northland campus. The company’s CEO Shawn Patterson and Director of Engineering Erin Garcia are testing an innovative catheter system. The catheter, still under development, has an electroactive polymer at its tip, which vibrates at different frequencies.
Vicora, designed to help pull out difficult blood clots, could shake up the $10 billion market for vascular intervention while providing a launching point for a medical device ecosystem in Buffalo.
As Harris reported, the device’s distal tip vibration “is designed to break up and help remove difficult clots, which can clog catheters currently on the market.” Vicora wants to disrupt the $10 billion annual market for vascular intervention.
Buffalo-based Egret Healthcare Ventures, which invests in medical technologies believes the goal is achievable. Egret has three companies in its portfolio: Vicora, Ampullae and The Rookery Labs, the last of which serves as a business incubator that provides the facilities, expertise and services that early-stage companies need to progress to clinical use.
Egret also has a dream team of five co-founders (2020): Bill Maggio, whose 25-year Buffalo entrepreneurial creds include his involvement with the Jacobs Institute and the 43North accelerator program; biopharmaceutical and medical technology industry veteran Matt Colpoys; Mike Hughes, a former Kaleida Health executive, government affairs and communications expert; longtime attorney and Lippes Mathias partner Brian Bocketti; and Rick Ducharme, who worked at the Jacobs Institute while Maggio was CEO. Ducharme already has experience with technology that creates sensations of touch and vibration through his prior work with a company called Novasentis.
This device could have a brilliant future, both in itself and as the catalyst for spurring a medical device hub in Buffalo.
Buffalo homes selling fast
As developers of big projects in the City of Buffalo are failing to deliver and their counterparts in the suburbs are humming along, area homeowners looking to sell have an advantage.
Why are suburban projects proceeding while city projects aren’t? “A lot of people ask that,” says Paul Bliss, owner of Bliss Construction and PB Investors. The answer, in part, lies in the greater availability of tax breaks in some suburbs.
In Sunday’s real estate column, Buffalo Next editor David Robinson pointed out that area homeowners were able to sell their homes within 37 days last month. That’s more than three weeks less than it took the typical U.S. home seller to simply find a buyer, according to a new report from Realtor.com.
Homeowners here were able to sell their homes in just 37 days last month – more than three weeks less than it took the typical U.S. home seller to find a buyer, according to a new report from Realtor.com.
That fact alone meant that Buffalo Niagara is ranked as the second-fastest housing market in the country, behind only Milwaukee, among the nation’s 50 biggest metro areas.
This is good news for someone looking to sell one of the region’s comparatively affordable homes. Look around the nation and the story is much different.
Murals attract visitors
Visit Buffalo, Erie County’s tourism board, is adding to the region’s mural inventory, having debuted the first in a series of commissioned murals at 5484 Main St. in Williamsville. Artist James “Yames” Moffitt created the large artwork that pays tribute to Williamsville.
Across Erie County over the next few years, several murals will be created with residents, artists and civic organizations to celebrate the diverse identities of local towns, villages and neighborhoods.
There will be more murals in future collaborations with residents, artists and civic organizations. Visit Buffalo’s worthwhile goal is to celebrate the diverse identities of Western New York’s towns, villages and neighborhoods – and, of course, share that celebration on social media.
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