Tympanogen, a biomedical startup founded by Tulane biomedical engineering doctoral students Elaine Horn- Ranney (SE ’14) and Parastoo Khoshakhlagh (SE ’17), took home the grand prize of $25,000 at the 2014 Tulane Business Model Competition.
Parastoo Khoshakhlagh, a doctoral studnet in the Tulane biomedical engineering program, makes the winning presentation for Tympanogen.
The competition took place on April 11 in the Woldenberg Art Center’s Freeman Auditorium on Tulane’s uptown campus. In winning this year’s competition, Tympanogen edged out fellow Tulane finalist InVision Biomedical, which earned a second-place prize of $10,000 with its pitch for a device to aid doctors treating tracheostomy patients, and Million Dollar Scholar, an online platform designed to help high school students learn how to win scholarships and avoid student debt.
Tympanogen won the top prize with its plan for Perf-Fix, a gel patch for repair of chronic perforations in the tympanic membrane of the ear. Currently the only treatment for tympanic membrane tears is surgery, which can cost up to $18,000 and has just a 40 percent success rate. Tympanogen’s gel patch, on the other hand, costs just $1,800 and promises a success rate of up to 95 percent.
Competition judge Chris Papamichael (BSM ’96), principal and co-founder of the Domain Cos., said Tympanogen impressed the judges with both its product and its solid financials.
“The product was very viable, they had strong margins and there was a lack of competition, whereas some of the other competitors had some stiff competition,” Papamichael said. “Tympanogen just seemed to be the most viable.”
In addition to winning the cash prize, Tympanogen also earned a trip to the International Business Model Competition in Provo, Utah, where it finished second overall and earned a $10,000 prize.
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