The National Institutes of Health has announced the winners of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Technology (RADx® Tech) for Maternal Health Challenge, a prize competition that encourages the development of postpartum maternal health diagnostics for regions that have limited access to maternity care. The eight winning teams developed home-based and point-of-care diagnostics, wearables, and other accessible technologies to improve postpartum health outcomes during the periods when most maternal deaths occur—at the end of a pregnancy and up to one year after delivery.
The winning teams were selected from more than 80 initial submissions and had to successfully progress through two years of continuous performance assessments and milestone-based interim awards. Six finalists won grand prizes of $525,000 each, and two runner-up teams won prizes of $300,000 each. The challenge awarded a total of $8 million.
The grand prize winners are:
- Cardiex, a continuous, wearable monitor for cardiovascular health
- Caretaker Medical, a wireless wrist monitor for cardiovascular health
- HemoSonics, a rapid, point-of-care diagnostic for postpartum hemorrhage
- Global Access Diagnostics, a rapid home test for urinary tract infections
- Sanguina, a smartphone app to detect pregnancy and postpartum anemia
- Sibel Health, a remote monitoring system for home or point-of-care settings
The runners-up are:
- MyLÚA Health, an artificial intelligence-powered virtual care platform for maternal mental and social health monitoring
- PyrAmes, a wearable device for continuous, noninvasive blood pressure monitoring
ORWH co-sponsored the challenge in collaboration with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, and the National Institute of Nursing Research as part of the Implementing a Maternal health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE) Initiative. The initiative supports research to reduce preventable causes of maternal deaths and to improve health for women before, during, and after delivery.