Teal Health, a woman-led company focused on cervical cancer screening, has been awarded a $1.68 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Direct to Phase II Grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant will support the development and clinical validation of the Teal Wand, a device designed for at-home collection of vaginal samples for human papillomavirus (HPV) testing.
The Teal Wand aims to increase access to cervical cancer screening by allowing women to collect samples from the comfort of their homes. This innovation addresses a significant gap in women’s health, as one in three women in the US are not up-to-date with their cervical cancer screenings.
Kara Egan, CEO and co-founder of Teal Health, stated: “We’re honored that the NIH recognizes the importance of our at-home screening technology in increasing access to preventive care and cancer screenings for women in the US. This funding brings us closer to our goal of providing women greater autonomy over their health while advancing the fight to eradicate cervical cancer.”
The SBIR funds will support the clinical development of the Teal Wand, for which a nationwide clinical trial was launched in early 2024. The device has also received the FDA’s Breakthrough Device Designation.
Dr. Akiva Novetsky, Associate Chair for Quality and Safety at New York Medical College and Associate Professor of Gynecologic Oncology at Westchester Medical Center, commented: “As we work towards the elimination of cervical cancer in the US, this grant will help provide safety and efficacy data for at-home self-collection, an option that has the potential to further expand access to cervical screening. This level of clinical rigor is essential to ensure that this screening method has similar efficacy to clinician-collected screening. We are hopeful that self-screening will help in closing the screening gap while maintaining the highest standards of care.”
Teal Health is a member of the Cervical Cancer Roundtable, a joint collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the Biden Cancer Moonshot. This coalition of industry leaders aims to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health concern in the US.
