Local heart stent features in top medical journal
The Firehawk targeted-drug-delivery heart stent developed by MicroPort in Shanghai's Zhangjiang High-Tech Park in Pudong.
A clinical trial utilizing a cutting-edge heart stent developed by a Shanghai company has been published in The Lancet, the first time that a piece of Chinese medical equipment has appeared in a leading international journal.
The medical journal published the results of a European clinical trial of the Firehawk stent for coronary disease, the world's first targeted drug delivery heart stent, which was developed by MicroPort in Shanghai's Zhangjiang High-Tech Park.
The domestically developed stent features a groove to hold drugs targeting the artery wall. It uses only one-third the amount of drugs required by a traditional stent, the lowest amount among similar products internationally.
A stent is a small scaffold inserted into a narrowed, diseased coronary artery to hold it open and help prevent heart attack. They typically contain drugs that are released slowly to prevent cell proliferation that could block the artery.
Medical journal The Lancet published the results of a clinical trial utilizing the Firehawk stent, the world's first targeted drug delivery heart stent developed by MicroPort in Shanghai's Zhangjiang High-Tech Park in Pudong.
During the December 2015 to October 2016 clinical trial, a total of 1,653 patients using the Firehawk stent from 21 hospitals in 10 European countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain, France, and Italy, took part.
Risk of blockage, or thrombus, caused by a new clot over the long term is the challenge when using the existing drug-delivery stents. The stent developed by MicroPort has an extremely low rate of blockage or other failures, according to the results of the trial.
William Wijns, a professor with the National University of Ireland Galway who led the study, said their data showed the exceptional performance and safety of the Firehawk stent.
"Firehawk has the potential to positively impact patient care by further reducing the risk of late adverse events and the need for device-mandated prolonged therapy," he added.
A comparison of the Firehawk stent, developed by MicroPort in Shanghai's Zhangjiang High-Tech Park in Pudong, and a hair.
"This is the first time that clinical data from a China manufactured drug eluting stent has been published in such a prestigious medical journal,” said Dr. Chang Zhaohua, founding chairman and CEO of MicroPort.
"We strongly believe and expect that the Firehawk stent will be used to save millions of patients globally in the years to come," Chang added.
Hong Kong-listed MicroPort Scientific Corporation was established in Shanghai in 1998. It has become a leading medical device company with business focusing on the innovation, manufacture, and marketing of domestically manufactured medical devices globally.
By the end of 2017, about 4.5 million coronary stents manufactured by MicroPort, including the Firehawk stent, have been implanted in over 3.5 million patients worldwide. Firehawk has now been approved for use and marketed in 36 countries and territories globally, according to the company.
There are 29 million people with cardiovascular diseases in China today, many of whom need stents.
