VA clinicians and researchers invent technologies grounded in patient experience and real-world care. (Courtesy of TechLink)The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates one of the largest healthcare systems in the country and is a leading source of medical research. U.S. businesses and medical engineers can access the VA’s breakthrough discoveries and accelerate healthcare product development through technology transfer.
How the VA Contributes to Medical Research
For over a century , the VA’s embedded research model has led to medical advances that extend far beyond veteran care. One notable example is the first cardiac pacemaker, a VA invention that set the stage for modern cardiac rhythm management devices. In the 1950s, VA research laid the groundwork for nuclear imaging technologies like the CT scan and MRI. VA research has also produced tools and prosthetics that restore mobility and independence, as well as large-scale studies that improve mental healthcare approaches for trauma, depression, and substance use.
These inventions are influenced by the VA’s unique treatment environment. VA practitioners and researchers work closely with real patients who require long-term treatment plans, chronic disease management, mobility assistance, behavioral health support, and more. The result? Unique healthcare solutions rooted in patient and provider needs.
Today, VA research is especially relevant to medical engineers because it is shaped by considerations like long-term reliability, usability, and patient feedback. There is one missing piece when it comes to turning VA inventions into widely available products: industry participation.
Federal technology transfer is the pathway that connects VA inventions to industry partners who develop them into market-ready solutions.
How VA Technology Transfer Supports Medical Device Development
The VA’s research results in new discoveries and medical knowledge that is ripe for medical device manufacturers to develop toward meaningful new products. Through technology transfer, commercial partners can gain rights to advance VA research and bring it to market.
When VA research is used as the foundation for new products, businesses can save resources on early-stage research and development processes like ideation and prototyping.
The VA supports commercialization of its research through its Technology Transfer Program, which manages VA-owned intellectual property and enables industry collaboration through established partnership mechanisms. Two of the most common agreement pathways are:
- Patent Licenses: A patent license gives a company the rights to develop and commercialize a VA-owned invention.
- Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs): CRADAs establish formal partnerships for collaborative development between the VA and external organizations. These agreements provide a framework for sharing knowledge and capabilities that can help move an invention from concept to a market-ready prototype.
Together, these agreements provide medical device developers with practical ways to engage with and capitalize on the VA’s clinically grounded innovation.
Advantages of Collaborating with VA Labs
According to a recently published R&D study from Techlink, companies face three common obstacles when trying to bring new products or services to market: budget constraints, lack of leadership commitment, and insufficient innovation skills or experience.
Collaborating with federal labs helps companies address these challenges by providing access to technologies developed by world-class VA clinicians and researchers. Rather than investing time and resources in expensive early-stage R&D, companies can license existing technologies or co-develop them through CRADAs . Federal technology transfer reduces technical unknowns and accelerates market readiness.
The study also reports that companies collaborating with government labs see stronger outcomes across key commercialization metrics, including the percentage of R&D projects that result in customer sales. For medical engineering and product leaders, this translates to improved odds that development efforts become revenue-generating products.
Advancing Healthcare and Technology
VA-developed inventions are valuable and highly relevant in the fast-paced medical device design environment. VA research contributes to new discoveries and techniques in technical areas, including:
- Advanced materials and manufacturing.
- Wearables and biosensors.
- Electronics and software.
- Robotics and automation.
- AI and machine learning.
Recently, the VA entered a CRADA with a biomed company to improve healthcare-related 3D printing. The joint research now taking place is centered on improving the performance of 3D-printed artificial lungs. Together with its industry partner, the VA is testing different resin combinations to demonstrate the advantages of a 3D-printed oxygenator over existing hollow-fiber oxygenators for long-term cardiorespiratory support.
Collaborative research enabled by CRADAs gives companies access to the VA’s depth of expertise and capabilities to address a common challenge or goal. Still other partnerships focus on bringing specific products to market.
The VA invented a thermal fuse clamp to improve safety for home-based oxygen patients. The clamp is designed to reduce fire hazards by preventing patients from removing the fuse from their oxygen device. Last fall, a medical gas company exclusively licensed the thermal fuse clamp, but other oxygen-delivery related innovations remain available for licensing and collaboration. For example, a nasal cannula position sensor and hands-free oxygen tubing management system invented by the VA are both available to license.
One notable example of a VA invention successfully licensed and brought to market is TrackMate, a disinfection tracking technology developed through a long-term collaboration between the VA and Xenex.
Xenex exclusively licensed the VA tracking system in 2015, refined it through extensive clinical research and healthcare worker feedback, and formally launched TrackMate as a commercial product in 2023. Real-world studies have shown the product can double cleanings with full compliance tracking, helping reduce the spread of dangerous infections across VA and civilian hospital settings.
Licensing Spotlight: Two Commercial-Ready VA Technologies
Inventions from VA research often address engineering challenges that companies are already working to solve. The two following VA-developed technologies have strong real-world commercialization potential and are currently available for licensing.
Engineered Cartilage
VA researchers, working with the University of Pennsylvania, have developed a magneto-patterning method that may strengthen and extend the life of engineered cartilage grafts used in joint repair. The approach addresses a key limitation in tissue-engineered cartilage: most grafts fail to reproduce the depth-dependent cell gradient that gives native cartilage its load-bearing strength.
The method introduces a paramagnetic agent into a hydrogel to create a magneto-responsive matrix, allowing a magnetic field to position stem cells into a controlled gradient before fixation and leaching of the agent. Early results show viable cells and mechanically robust cartilage-like tissue. The invention is available for licensing, offering commercialization potential in orthopedic repair, regenerative medicine platforms, osteochondral applications, and bioprinting workflows.
Automated Medication Inactivation
VA researchers have developed a timer-enabled medication bottle lid designed to reduce post-surgical opioid misuse by automatically neutralizing leftover pills. The system pairs a standard bottle-compatible cap with a built-in reservoir containing an inactivating agent and a time-controlled puncture mechanism. When the preset time expires, the puncture releases the inactivating composition onto the remaining medication to neutralize it.
The cap addresses the large volume of unused opioids that can be misused. Because it fits existing bottles and can be customized to medication potency, the automated medication inactivation technology presents a practical licensing opportunity for pharmaceutical packaging manufacturers.
Explore Opportunities to License or Co-Develop VA Technologies
VA research has contributed to foundational breakthroughs in medicine and continues to generate inventions shaped by the realities of modern healthcare. Innovative medical device companies can translate the VA’s work into impactful commercial products.
VA technology transfer provides practical pathways for licensing and collaboration, enabling companies to build on VA-developed inventions while bringing engineering, manufacturing, and commercialization capabilities to the table. TechLink, the VA’s national technology transfer partner, provides companies with no-cost assistance in navigating VA technology transfer partnership opportunities. Explore VA inventions available for licensing and collaboration on the TechLink Marketplace .
This article was provided by TechLink .
