When Drs. Anthony Colantonio and Menno Jager noticed a friend's treatment at a prestigious hospital resulted in poor catheter and intravenous line maintenance, they were surprised that even at such a known facility, staff used only a basic alcohol swab to cap and protect the ends of those life-saving lines.

The doctors combined their skill sets to address the problem and discovered typical IV line maintenance results in more than 250,000 infections annually in the U.S., with 30,000 ending in death. The duo decided to focus on the "action site," where nurses connect and reconnect various other elements to the IV line. The result was PSI Medical Catheter Care in Erie, which has revolutionized the line maintenance market.

The proof was in PSI's $100,000 victory in the Ben Franklin Technology Partners' Big Idea Business Plan contest in 2009, besting 100 applicants. Membership in the Technology Council of Northwest PA and its local Keystone Innovation Zone also provided connections with business people and local academic institutions to advance product development and research. PSI partnered with Multi-Plastics Inc. in Saegertown to develop prototypes of three devices that passively disinfect and protect needleless connectors, which are used up to six billion times annually nationwide.

The company raised $1.5 million in initial capital and projects the creation of 150 jobs in sales, support, manufacturing and research over the next five years.