Alvimedica

Last updated
Alvimedica
Company type Private
Industry Medical Instruments & Supplies
Founded2007
Headquarters Istanbul, Turkey
Key people

Vedat Alaton, CEO
Products Medical devices
Number of employees
187 (2009)
Website www.alvimedica.com

Alvimedica is a manufacturer of coronary stents, balloon catheters, diagnostic and guiding catheters. The company was founded in 2007 by Turkish businessmen and scientists living in Denmark and Sweden. The major intention of the company is investing in small and medium size medical device manufacturers to enable them to compete globally. The company made its first investment move by purchasing a medical device company called Nemed in Turkey in 2007. Following this, the company purchased an American company called In-Vivo, a manufacturer of angioplasty and angiography catheters, and one of the suppliers of Abbott Laboratories.

Alvimedica has one of the biggest Class 10.000 cleanrooms of Europe. [1] An area of 700 m² - which also complies with GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice)'s standards - contains the main assembly of catheter and stent systems, including the first drug-eluting stent developed and manufactured in Turkey: Coracto. [2] While Prof. Nicolaus Reifart of the Main-Taunus-Privatklinik in Germany performed the clinical studies, CVPath's well-known Cardiac Pathologist Prof. Renu Virmani conducted animal studies on Coracto SDS (Stent Delivery System) and announced the results at EuroPCR 2009. [3] The study conducted by Dr. Virmani used confocal, scanning electron and light microscopy to examine reendothelialization and inflammation at 14 and 28 days of Coracto, a rapamycin-eluting stent, versus, a sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) and an everolimus-eluting stent (EES) and a bare metal stent (Constant) as a control in a healthy rabbit iliac model. The trial was not powered for significance, but results show that endothelial coverage of Coracto at 14 days was better than that of both EES and SES. As expected, the bare metal stent showed greatest endothelial coverage. [4]

Alvimedica also develops projects in collaboration with universities in Turkey such as Boğaziçi University, Istanbul University, Sabancı University, Bilkent University, Yıldız Technical University, Yeditepe University, and international universities like Drexel University (USA), Medical University of Vienna (Austria), and as well as institutions like TASSA (Turkish American Scientists and Scholars Association), [5] CVPath International Registry of Pathology (USA), or the Main-Taunus-Private Clinic (Germany). Alvimedica works with Stent for Life [6] to provide staff training.

In collaboration with TSC (Turkish Society of Cardiology), the company established Turkey's first cardiology simulation center. [7] Together they provide training for Turkish cardiologists as part of an international project called Stent For Life. [8] Through the training sessions the partnership aims at the early detecting of heart attacks and then making sure that the patient will receive the necessary treatment within an hour. [9]

Alvimedica’s headquarters are a 5.500 m² facility located at the free trade zone in Catalca, Istanbul, Turkey. Current projects include amongst others renal and cranial intravascular stents. The company is also working on bio-degradable stents which completely dissolve in the vessel.

Alvimedica sponsored a team for the 2014–2015 Volvo Ocean Race, round-the-world sailing race.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angioplasty</span> Procedure to widen narrow arteries or veins

Angioplasty, also known as balloon angioplasty and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), is a minimally invasive endovascular procedure used to widen narrowed or obstructed arteries or veins, typically to treat arterial atherosclerosis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stent</span> Type of medical device

In medicine, a stent is a tube usually constructed of a metallic alloy or a polymer. It is inserted into the lumen of an anatomic vessel or duct to keep the passageway open. Stenting refers to the placement of a stent. The word "stent" is also used as a verb to describe the placement of such a device, particularly when a disease such as atherosclerosis has pathologically narrowed a structure such as an artery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coronary catheterization</span> Radiography of heart and blood vessels

A coronary catheterization is a minimally invasive procedure to access the coronary circulation and blood filled chambers of the heart using a catheter. It is performed for both diagnostic and interventional (treatment) purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Restenosis</span> Recurrence of stenosis, a narrowing of a blood vessel

Restenosis is the recurrence of stenosis, a narrowing of a blood vessel, leading to restricted blood flow. Restenosis usually pertains to an artery or other large blood vessel that has become narrowed, received treatment to clear the blockage, and subsequently become re-narrowed. This is usually restenosis of an artery, or other blood vessel, or possibly a vessel within an organ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coronary thrombosis</span> Medical condition

Coronary thrombosis is defined as the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel of the heart. This blood clot may then restrict blood flow within the heart, leading to heart tissue damage, or a myocardial infarction, also known as a heart attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percutaneous coronary intervention</span> Medical techniques used to manage coronary occlusion

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a minimally invasive non-surgical procedure used to treat narrowing of the coronary arteries of the heart found in coronary artery disease. The procedure is used to place and deploy coronary stents, a permanent wire-meshed tube, to open narrowed coronary arteries. PCI is considered 'non-surgical' as it uses a small hole in a peripheral artery (leg/arm) to gain access to the arterial system, an equivalent surgical procedure would involve the opening of the chest wall to gain access to the heart area. The term 'coronary angioplasty with stent' is synonymous with PCI. The procedure visualises the blood vessels via fluoroscopic imaging and contrast dyes. PCI is performed by an interventional cardiologists in a catheterization laboratory setting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drug-eluting stent</span> Medical implant

A drug-eluting stent (DES) is a tube made of a mesh-like material used to treat narrowed arteries in medical procedures both mechanically and pharmacologically. A DES is inserted into a narrowed artery using a balloon. Once the balloon inside the stent is inflated, the stent expands, pushing against the artery wall, keeping the artery open, thereby improving blood flow. The mesh design allows cells to grow through and around it, securing it in place.

The history of invasive and interventional cardiology is complex, with multiple groups working independently on similar technologies. Invasive and interventional cardiology is currently closely associated with cardiologists, though the development and most of its early research and procedures were performed by diagnostic and interventional radiologists.

Terumo Corporation was founded in 1921 as Red Line Thermometer Corporation by a group of medical scientists led by Dr. Kitasato Shibasaburō to produce medical thermometers in Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coronary stent</span> Medical stent implanted into coronary arteries

A coronary stent is a tube-shaped device placed in the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart, to keep the arteries open in patients suffering from coronary heart disease. The vast majority of stents used in modern interventional cardiology are drug-eluting stents (DES). They are used in a medical procedure called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Coronary stents are divided into two broad types: drug-eluting and bare metal stents. As of 2023, drug-eluting stents were used in more than 90% of all PCI procedures. Stents reduce angina and have been shown to improve survival and decrease adverse events after a patient has suffered a heart attack—medically termed an acute myocardial infarction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostatic stent</span>

A prostatic stent is a stent used to keep open the male urethra and allow the passing of urine in cases of prostatic obstruction and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). Prostatic obstruction is a common condition with a variety of causes. Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is the most common cause, but obstruction may also occur acutely after treatment for BPH such as transurethral needle ablation of the prostate (TUNA), transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), transurethral microwave thermotherapy (TUMT), prostate cancer or after radiation therapy.

Nicholas George Kounis is professor emeritus of cardiology in the University of Patras and scientific cardiology advisor at Saint Andrews State General Hospital Patras and at the Department of cardiology of University of Patras Medical School, Patras, Greece.

Biotronik is a limited partnership multi-national cardiovascular biomedical research and technology company, headquartered in Berlin, Germany.

A dual therapy stent is a coronary artery stent that combines the technology of an antibody-coated stent and a drug-eluting stent. Currently, second-generation drug-eluting stents require long-term use of dual-antiplatelet therapy, which increases the risk of major bleeding occurrences in patients. Compared to drug-eluting stents, dual therapy stents have improved vessel regeneration and cell proliferation capabilities. As a result, dual therapy stents were developed to reduce the long-term need for dual-antiplatelet therapy.

Christodoulos I. Stefanadis is Professor of Cardiology in the Medical School of the University of Athens. Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Emory University, Atlanta U.S.A.Professor of Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He has been recognised as the top researcher in the field of Cardiovascular medicine in the last 20 years with the most original research publications in peer review journals. Some of his main research interests include coronary heart disease, detection and treatment of vulnerable atheromatic plaque, aortic elastic properties, mitral valve disease, interventional treatment of resistant hypertension and designing many catheter types used for various diagnostic and therapeutic interventional procedures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashok Seth</span> Indian interventional cardiologist

Ashok Seth is an Indian interventional cardiologist, credited with the performance of over 50,000 angiograms and 20,000 angioplasties, which has been included in the Limca Book of Records, a book for achievements and records from an Indian perspective. He is a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of London, Edinburgh and Ireland and serves as the chief cardiologist, holding the chairs of the department of cardiovascular sciences and cardiology council at the Fortis Healthcare. Seth, a recipient of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, was honored by the Government of India with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri, in 2003, followed by Padma Bhushan, the third highest Indian civilian award, in 2015.

Eckhard U. Alt is a German scientist and physician known for his contributions in cardiology and research.

Daljeet Singh Gambhir is an Indian cardiologist, medical academic, researcher and inventor and the Group Director of Cardiology at Kailash Group of Hospitals and Heart Institute, Noida. He is the inventor of Infinnium Paclitaxel-Eluting Stent, a reportedly cheaper drug-eluting stent which he first presented at the EuroPCR meeting held in Paris in 2003. A fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences and an honorary fellow of the Indian College of Cardiology, he is reported to have performed over 10,000 coronary interventions. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2016, for his contributions to medicine.

Donald S. Baim was a researcher and clinician in the field of interventional cardiology. Baim's primary research focused on coronary blood flow, catheter intervention in heart disease, and congestive heart failure. His work helped to shift the use of catheters from a purely diagnostic tool to a therapeutic tool. After receiving a medical degree from Yale and initial medical training, residency and a fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center, Baim spent the bulk of his career at Beth Israel Hospital and at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. In 1993, Baim founded the Beth Israel Hospital's Cardiovascular Data Analysis Center (CDAC) -- later to be named Harvard Clinical Research Institute (HCRI). Baim died of cancer in November 2009. In October 2016, HCRI changed its name to the Baim Institute for Clinical Research.

MicroPort is a multinational medical technology developer and manufacturer that is primarily headquartered in Shanghai, China. It mainly designs and produces medical devices for a range of fields including cardiology, interventional radiology, orthopedics, electrophysiology, and surgical management. MicroPort is considered one of the global Medtech Big 100 and has been consistently known as the leading spender in research and development by percentage of revenue.

References

  1. ↑ "Our Products - Cleanrooms.net". Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  2. ↑ "Alvimedica, ilaç kaplı stent üretti, 2010'da kullanılacak".
  3. ↑ "Alvimedica". Archived from the original on 2010-03-07. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  4. ↑ "ACC 2010 Home". Archived from the original on 2010-03-27. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  5. ↑ "Turkey eyes boom in medical investments with new project". www.todayszaman.com. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  6. ↑ "Home". stentforlife.com. Archived from the original on 2013-04-04. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
  7. ↑ "Türk Kardiyoloji Derneği". Archived from the original on 2011-10-06. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  8. ↑ "ESC | Membership | National Societies | Spotlight on the 25th Congress of the Turkish Society of Cardiology". Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  9. ↑ "Stent for life". www.europcronline.com. Archived from the original on 25 June 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
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