BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Outcome Capital, a highly specialized life sciences and healthcare advisory and investment banking firm, today announced that Innara Health and Cardinal Health have partnered on the redesign of Innara’s FDA Cleared NTrainer System to improve feeding outcomes in newborns and infants born prematurely. The next generation NTrainer will be smaller, more intuitive, and easier to integrate into NICU feeding protocols. Outcome Capital served as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Innara.
Innara Health’s NTrainer System is the only FDA cleared medical device that focuses on improving a critical key pre-feeding skill in newborns and preterm infants known as non-nutritive suck (NNS). NNS is often lacking or weak in preterm infants but critical for the safe transition from feeding tubes to breast or bottle. The successful transition from feeding tubes to breast or bottle is a developmental milestone for the preterm infants and recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics as criteria for discharge from the NICU. By utilizing Innara’s patented technology for improving non-nutritive sucking proficiency, the NTrainer has been clinically proven to improve feeding outcomes while also reducing length of NICU stay.
“This transaction represents Outcome’s continued commitment to propel innovation from bench to bedside,” said Dr. Oded Ben-Joseph, Managing Director at Outcome Capital. “We are confident that Innara’s novel therapeutic modality for preterm infants, coupled with Cardinal’s NICU presence, will result in much needed improved clinical outcomes.”
“We are thrilled to have a globally recognized organization like Cardinal Health support Innara and the NTrainer. Not only is this partnership validating for our clients and our team, but it is also a clear indication of Cardinal’s commitment to improving clinical outcomes through innovation. We look forward to seeing their contributions toward providing preterm infants with their best opportunity to develop, grow, and thrive,” states Innara Health CEO Chris Mathia.
“Cardinal Health is dedicated to improving patient outcomes and we’re looking forward to supporting Innara’s critical work,” said Kelley Moffett, Cardinal Health’s senior vice president of Global Products. “We see tremendous value in this relationship, given our shared focus on neonatal nutrition, and we’re proud to support development and commercialization of the next generation NTrainer.”
Innara’s visibility and the pathway to the NTrainer redesign gained momentum in 2020 after being selected to participate in the MedTech Innovator accelerator pediatric cohort. Innara went on to capture a top award of $50,000 in FDA funding through the accelerator’s culminating event, “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” The competition was hosted by the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI), a partnership of Children’s National Hospital, University of Maryland and MedTech Innovator. In addition to the award, NCC-PDI also provided Innara with medical device consultation to help advance the NTrainer’s development path.
The NTrainer has provided therapy for thousands of patients in Neonatal Intensive Care Units and rehabilitation facilities throughout the United States. The next-generation NTrainer is expected to be available mid-Q4 2022.
About Outcome Capital
Outcome Capital (outcomecapital.com) is a highly specialized life sciences and healthcare advisory and investment banking firm, providing innovative companies with a value-added, market-aligned approach to mergers & acquisitions, partnering and corporate finance. The firm leverages its proven ‘strategy-led execution’ approach to value enhancement by assisting management teams and their boards in navigating both financial and corporate markets and implementing the best path for success. The firm’s strength stems from its multi-disciplinary, industry experts who draw from their broad relationships and a wide range of scientific, operational, strategic and transactional expertise across the value chain. Comprised of former CEOs, business development executives, venture capitalists, PhD/MD-level scientists and clinicians, and experienced commercialization experts, Outcome’s team is driven to propel innovation from bench to bedside.
About Innara Health
Innara Health is a leader in feeding health technology and is dedicated to advancing the global understanding and improvement of neonatal feeding. In working towards this goal Innara Heath has developed the FDA cleared NTrainer System®. The NTrainer is an advancement for oral feeding development as it fosters skills essential to the normal development of oral feeding for premature and newborn infants. Innara Health continues to work towards creating cutting edge products that improve standards of care, optimize patient outcomes, and increase healthcare benefits for feeding health.
About Cardinal Health
Cardinal Health is a distributor of pharmaceuticals, a global manufacturer and distributor of medical and laboratory products, and a provider of performance and data solutions for health care facilities. With 50 years in business, operations in more than 30 countries and approximately 44,000 employees globally, Cardinal Health is essential to care. Information about Cardinal Health is available at cardinalhealth.com.
