A pediatrics business consortium based at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has been awarded a $6.6 million federal grant to foster medical devices to help sick kids, the hospital announced Sept. 20.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued the five-year grant to the West Coast Consortium for Technology and Innovation in Pediatrics, a network of western research universities and institutes formed seven years ago to promote the commercialization of medical device technology.

The $6.6 million grant from the USDA’s Office of Orphan Products Development will go toward improving child health by advancing pediatric medical devices to market.

“We recognize that there are still many unmet needs facing pediatric patients, which motivates us to capitalize on our large network of multidisciplinary stakeholders to identify and cultivate promising new technologies tailored to the needs of children,” said Yaniv Bar-Cohen, a pediatric cardiologist and Children’s Hospital L.A., and co-director of the business consortium.

The consortium includes such institutions as UCLA, USC and Cedars-Sinai Accelerator, in addition to universities in Oregon and Washington. It aims to guide early stage companies in how to raise funds and get their medical devices to market.

Health business reporter Dana Bartholomew can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @_DanaBart.