Foldax Named Finalist in the Fierce Innovation Awards

October 2, 2020

Salt Lake City-based Foldax® was a finalist in the recent Fierce Innovation Awards – Life Sciences Edition 2020, a peer-reviewed awards program from the publisher of Fierce Biotech and Fierce Pharma.

The company was selected as a finalist for its innovative TriaTM heart valve. The Tria valve reimagines the heart valve by incorporating a new, proprietary biopolymer – LifePolymerTM – with an innovative valve design intended to eliminate calcification, withstand stresses and strains without failure, and restore patient quality of life without lifelong use of anticoagulants. 

Although Mesoblast Limited was ultimately chosen as the winner of the innovation awards, making it into the final round is quite an achievement for any company.

“BioUtah applauds Foldax for being selected as a finalist in the competition,” said Kelvyn Cullimore, president and CEO of BioUtah. “As a finalist, the company, headquartered right here in Salt Lake City, was recognized for its innovation and breakthrough technology.”

“It is gratifying to see continued recognition of Foldax’s mission of reinventing the replacement heart valve and addressing the tradeoffs of current replacement valves. Beyond the technical achievements, it is rewarding to see our Tria valves actually change a patient’s life. We recently reached a major milestone – the one-year implant anniversary of our first Tria aortic valve patient, who is doing great and back to running. Our team in Salt Lake City had the honor to meet him recently and seeing the culmination of their hard work is what drives each person at Foldax,” stated Ken Charhut, Executive Chairman of Foldax.

The awards’ applications were reviewed by a panel of executives from major bioscience companies, including Astellas, Accenture, AstraZeneca, Angiocrine Bioscience, Biotech Research Group, NIHR Clinical Research Network, Medidata Solutions and PPD. Winners were announced in the 2020 Innovation Report mid-September.