Networking over coffee, a pitch from Audrey Reid of Imbibe Solutions, and lessons learned with Evan Edwards of Kaleo.
Imbibe Solutions is a quality control laboratory for Virginia's breweries, wineries, and distilleries. With options for in-house testing and individualized consulting, Imbibe Solutions aims to build personal relationships with local craft businesses.
Mr. Evan T. Edwards is Vice-President of Product Development & Industrialization at kaléo Inc., a pharmaceutical company dedicated to building innovative solutions for serious and life-threatening medical conditions. . He is co-founder of kaléo, formerly Intelliject, Inc., and is co-inventor of the company’s technology platforms. The company’s first approved products, Auvi-Q® in the U.S. and Allerject® in Canada, are epinephrine auto-injectors that were originally licensed to Sanofi who launched them commercially in early 2013. The company received all rights back to Auvi-Q® and Allerject® in February 2016 and is currently evaluating re-launch of these two assets. The company’s second product, EVZIO (naloxone HCL injection) Auto-Injector was launched by kaléo in July 2014 and is a prescription medicine used for the treatment of an opioid emergency such as an overdose or a possible opioid overdose. Since launch of EVZIO, over 1000 lives saved with the product have been reported. Evan leads the invention, device design and industrialization for kaléo’s product portfolio. In addition, Evan is responsible for management of the company’s intellectual property portfolio where he is named on over 150 patents issued and pending domestically and abroad.
Evan has been recognized among his peers for his expertise and work in human factors engineering (HFE). He is actively involved with both HFES and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). In addition, Evan serves on the Medical Devices for Injection and Human Factors Committees for the Association of the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) and is co-faculty of AAMI’s HF for Medical Devices Workshop.
Evan is a graduate of the University of Virginia where he earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a M.S. in Systems Engineering with a concentration on HFE. In 2012 he was named among MDDI’s “40 Medtech Innovators Under 40”.