Medistim, a world leading medical equipment supplier to cardiac and vascular surgeons as well as other medical specialists, has announced the opening of a UK subsidiary.
The UK company, based in Gatwick, will be boosted by a direct sales force. The company previously used out sourced distribution companies. The move strengthens Medistim’s commitment to the UK market following the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommendation of its innovative VeriQ flow measurement system for routine clinical use and cost savings of more than £115 per patient.
New MD of Medistim UK, Roger Morberg, who previously worked in senior positions for Siemens, Hewlett Packard and GE Healthcare, commented, “Medistim is very experienced in direct sales and support to its end customers through its subsidiaries in the USA, Germany and Denmark, and is well equipped to ensure a similarly successful direct operation in the UK. We are greatly looking forward to introducing the groundbreaking VeriQ system into routine cardiac surgery and benefit patients throughout the UK. ”
Medistim president and CEO, Kari E Krogstad, added, “We have received considerable interest from many UK cardiac centres in using our VeriQ flow measurement system. UK clinicians have been particularly enthusiastic since the publication of the NICE review that endorses our technology. The new UK office will enable us to build on this interest; communicate the benefits to patients and NHS managers and ensure that all our customers are receiving the very best direct service and support as we scale up the business.”
The Medistim VeriQ system uses two well”established ultrasound principles to measure graft patency in coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG); transit time flow measurement (TTFM) and Doppler velocity. The technology has been widely and successfully implemented in many countries, including Germany, Spain, the Nordic countries and Japan.
NICE carried out a full economic assessment on VeriQ and has accepted the health economics data derived from routine usage of the system for assessing graft blood flow during CABG surgery, compared to clinical assessment alone. NICE also supported the clinical evidence, suggesting use of VeriQ can reduce early graft failure, stroke, myocardial infarction or recurrent angina.
The NICE review stated that: “Intraoperative transit time flow measurement is effective in detecting imperfections that may be corrected by graft revision. This may reduce the incidence of graft occlusion and may reduce perioperative morbidity and mortality.”
This endorsement follows the inclusion of graft patency verification with transit time flow measurement during CABG in the European “Guidelines on Myocardial Revascularization” developed by ESC/EACTS.
Krogstad added: “There are tremendous differences in clinical practice between European countries when it comes to graft patency verification during CABG, and the lack of utilisation of clinically proven, cost effective technology in many countries must be a concern, not only to patients and surgeons, but also to the payors.
”Our expectations are that the NICE recommendations will enable UK surgeons to adopt the objective and reliable measurements offered by the VeriQ system. We also believe this endorsement has the potential to impact practice in many other countries, including the USA. Medistim is very encouraged by NICE’s supportive review . It helps us to continue our journey towards making blood flow measurement the gold standard of care in treating CABG patients all over the world.”
