» Schenectady medical device company Epic Airways Systems finalist in FuzeHub competition

Oct 15, 2023

SCHENECTADY — A Schenectady company has been selected as one of a dozen finalists in a commercialization competition that will dole out a $150,000 grand prize to one New York-based tech company.

Epic Airway Systems Inc. will compete in the FuzeHub competition on Monday and Tuesday at the Saratoga Springs City Center, with the local company seeking funding to help bring its medical prototype to the market.

The company, co-founded by Dr. Eric Moses and Dr. Sridhar Musuku in 2018, aims to bring an airway management device to the market that would assist first responders and doctors in maintaining patient breathing in emergencies and surgery.

“The airway device will come in very handy in the operating room and in prehospital settings with EMS and paramedics,” Moses said. “It lowers the level of training one would need to successfully secure the airway in the case of an emergency. Most patients outside of the hospital in catastrophic instances who die of cardiac arrest, it often starts with an airway problem, a breathing problem. Putting in a breathing tube in that type of tense setting, and I know this from having been a paramedic, is very difficult and there’s a high failure rate. Our device will reduce the level of training necessary to successfully perform that life-saving intervention.”

Moses said the company has developed eight rounds of prototypes for the device, with a submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) upcoming, with Moses saying he hopes for FDA approval by 2025.

If they win a grant at the FuzeHub competition, Moses said the company hopes to hire an internal regulatory team.

“We’ll probably need four people working on the FDA submission over the course of six months,” he said.

Moses, a Niskayuna-based anesthesiologist, has reduced his medical duties to focus on the fledgling company.

“It’s completely unique,” Moses said of the company’s product. “The airway market is crowded but there’s no device that does what ours does. There’s an empty space for it where there are some procedures that could use a device like ours and it doesn’t even exist.”

Moses explained that the Epic Airway invention combines two existing airway management technologies, endotracheal tubes and laryngeal masks, into a single device.

“In the operating room it will speed up the procedure,” he said. “We put in breathing tubes in the operating room so patients can have surgery and our device will allow you to switch seamlessly between two very commonly used devices, a little bit like a Swiss army knife.”

The non-profit FuzeHub organization is supported by the state Empire State Development initiative and will distribute $450,000 in grants to small and medium-sized startups to bring their tech closer to market at the Saratoga Springs event, with each company presenting their ideas before a panel of judges.

Additional companies in the competition are putting forth inventions including a smart ring that can silently request help from 911 or emergency contacts, a water desalination treatment system and an electric toenail trimmer for aging or disabled adults.

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