SIS to consolidate Indian operations

Surgical Information Systems (SIS) to consolidate its Indian operations based at Hyderabad and signs up with new clients globally to be supported from its India development cum support centre.

Himanshu Ubale, Head, SIS India in a statement said the Indian development centre would continue to focus on software development and quality assurance for SIS' over 200 customers globally. SIS India is our strategic product development centre.

The new wins include Catholic Health East, which chose SIS as a solution partner for automated intelligence in surgery. Catholic Health East is one of the largest healthcare services provider. The company also bagged mandate from Sick Kids based in Toronto, Canada, that delivers medical treatment and care for children.

(Ref : Express Pharma Pulse Dated March 3, 2005)

Vascular Concepts to launch combination drug eluting stent

Bangalore based Vascular Concepts, a leading company engaged in the design, development and manufacture of endovascular medical devices, plans to launch combination drug eluting stent soon. Speaking to Express Pharma Pulse, Swaminathan M Jayaraman, chief executive office, Vascular Concepts, said that the combination drug eluting stent shall enable to target different cells at the same time.

The group develops its own technology, based on its extensive patent portfolio of intellectual property, which includes 28 patents in the United States, he added.

The products are developed at the company's R&D centre in Bangalore, which is equipped with a world-class cleanroom. The company has manufacturing collaboration with Eucatech AG of Germany where all its devices are manufactured to the European standards.

Vascular Concepts has developed first generation stainless steel coronary stent systems ProLink LP and ProLink SV for smaller coronary vessels.

The second generation of products include a state-of-the-art nanotechnology coating on stents, which was developed between Vascular Concepts and a US company, which has granted an exclusive worldwide license on platinum, activated coronary stent system Propass.

Propass is awaiting approval and later will hit the market soon, said Jayaraman. The other ancillary technology products include peripheral stents Prostar; angioplasty balloon catheters Speed and valvuplasty balloon catheters Accura.

The company has recently introduced its drug eluting coronary stent systems Pronova. Pronova, a state-of-the-art siroliums eluting stent, is proven to reduce restenosis (reoccurrence of blockage) in coronary vessels. The technology developed in Bangalore has been evaluated in some the premier hospitals in the country.

The company's patented drug eluting stents, with a combination of siroliums and cyclosporine, are undergoing preclinical trials inthe Netherlands. Clinical trials are planned in Europe in the next few months.

Vascular Concepts' coronary stents enjoys 25 percent market share and it expects to achieve similar success with its new drug eluting stents said, Jayaraman. The company has completed a series of clinical trials on ProNova stents on a patient base of over 1000, the results of which were presented at CAD 2004 in Mumbai by four leading cardiologists in India.

Vascular Concepts, a Rs 35 crore company, expects to achieve a growth of around 60 to 70 per cent in the coming years.

(Ref : Express Pharma Pulse Dated March 10, 2005)