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Victoria, BC – GuideStar Medical Devices is a proud sponsor of the Rm8 iNoV8 Pitch Competition at the 2026 AANA Annual Congress in Boston. The competition takes place Sunday, August 23 from 10:45 a.m. to noon ET, where five nurse anesthesiology entrepreneurs will pitch on stage for a $15,000 prize, with concepts judged on their potential to improve patient safety, patient outcomes or provider experience.

Rm8 is AANA’s innovation lab, created to help CRNAs, residents, RNs and APRNs take their ideas from concept to market. GuideStar’s support of iNoV8 reflects a straightforward conviction: the best ideas in anesthesia safety come from the people holding the needle.

“EpiZact exists because clinicians told us what was wrong with the standard of care and we listened,” said Mike Dolphin, CEO and Founder of GuideStar. “Backing iNoV8 is our way of putting resources behind the next generation of clinical innovators, because the profession advances fastest when the people doing the work are the ones designing the tools.”

GuideStar will also be exhibiting at Congress. Attendees can find the team at Booth 927 to try EpiZact on the simulator and request a clinical evaluation for their facility.

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About EpiZact
Epidurals are performed to provide anesthesia to a patient, by means of injection of medication into the epidural space. Traditionally, epidurals are performed using the “loss of resistance” technique. EpiZact is the first device developed for epidurals that is designed to stop the forward motion of the needle upon sensing a loss of resistance, providing a tactile and visual signal to the user while simultaneously stopping the needle from further advancement, potentially reducing the incidence of accidental dural puncture.

About GuideStar
GuideStar Medical Devices is a medical device company located in Victoria, BC. The Company’s flagship device, EpiZact, was designed with the intent of reducing the incidence of accidental dural punctures during epidural administration. GuideStar is committed to offering innovative solutions to unmet medical needs with a primary goal of enhancing patient safety.

 

Investor Contact
Mike Dolphin
CEO, GuideStar Medical Devices
info@guidestarmd.com