Shanghai, China – On January 8, the project of "Key Technology Development and Large-scale Industrialization of Aortic Stent Graft Products", jointly developed by Shanghai MicroPort (Medical) Group Co., Ltd. ("MicroPort®"), its subsidiary MicroPort Endovascular (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. ("MicroPort® Endovascular"), and Beijing Anzhen Hospital of Capital Medical University, won the second prize of State Science and Technology Progress Award. It is the first State Science and Technology Progress Award earned by MicroPort® Endovascular.
Aortic diseases are extremely dangerous, directly threatening or destroying the health of human beings, with up to 90% death rate once the aortic aneurysms rupture. People aged above 60 are considered high-risk group. Conventional operations in treating aortic diseases have high post-operative mortality. Nowadays there is a significant trend to treat these patients suffering aortic aneurysms with minimally invasive device technologies. However, China used to solely rely on imports on material and products of interventional treatment of aortic diseases, which makes the medical cost as high as 200,000 to 300,000 yuan, severely hampering the development of minimally invasive treatment technologies of aortic diseases in China. Though domestic professionals have been carrying out researches on relevant technologies to develop China's own material and products of interventional treatment of aortic diseases, little progress had been made in the development of ultra-thin vascular prosthesis graft material, due to technology monopoly and weak foundation of China's new material industry.
The project of "Key Technology Development and Large-scale Industrialization of Aortic Stent Graft Products" is the result of 15 years of innovation and hard work of MicroPort®. The project focused on studies of core material, product design, and clinical application of minimally invasive interventional treatment of aortic diseases. It successfully made breakthroughs in the production of key material, design rationale, and key manufacturing technique, and delivered a series of world-class domestically made aortic stent graft systems, including CRONUS™ Surgical Stent Graft System ("CRONUS™"), Hercules™-T Low Profile Stent-Graft ("HT-LP") and Delivery System, and Aegis™ Bifurcated Stent-Graft System ("Aegis™") and Delivery System, to effectively promote the development of diagnosis and treatment technology of aortic diseases as well as the industrial chain of minimally invasive interventional treatment of aortic diseases in China.
The project successfully breaks the US monopoly of the core material of aortic stent graft system. The products included in the project adopt advanced weaving technology, breaking through the obstacle in the production and application of ultra-thin vascular prosthesis graft material, making the production of domestically made aortic stent graft systems no longer restricted to overseas suppliers, and largely shortening the product development cycle. The project also makes China the second country after the US that masters the technology of producing vascular prosthesis graft material. The material it produces is of world-class quality, with its anti-fatigue property improved 50% and thickness reduced 30% compared to similar imports.
HT-LP and Aegis™ feature low profile, branch design and precise positioning with second-release, which transforms the domestically made aortic stent graft systems into top class devices, offering patients with a complete solution of interventional treatment for aortic diseases. At the same time, with these innovative products, MicroPort® has become the first and only medical device company that possess precise approaching and deploying technology as well as branch and uni-body stent graft systems.
The launch of CRONUS™, the first surgical stent graft in the world, successfully simplifies the ascending aortic disease treatment from two conventional operations to one surgery, with the success rate increased from 40% to 95%. The device adopts pre-curved sheath, pre-loaded guide-wire and pre-locked deployment-control design, which largely simplifies the operation procedure and improve the safety. Treatment with CRONUS™ has been regarded as a standard surgery to treat dissections involving ascending aorta both at home and abroad, greatly promoting the development of China's minimally invasive treatment technologies of aortic diseases.
The project of "Key Technology Development and Large-scale Industrialization of Aortic Stent Graft Products" was granted 30 patents, of which 24 are Chinese patents and six are international patents. In addition, it won the First Prize of Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award in 2016. Up to date, products of the project have been used in top hospitals of around 30 provinces and cities in China, making the number of hospitals capable of performing aortic interventional treatment increase 20 folds from 25 to over 500, which creates large contribution to industry development. So far, products of the project have effectively treated 50,000 critically ill patients, with around 30% market share in China, the top among similar domestically made products. Meanwhile, their emergence forced imported products to reduce price by 40%, easing the burden for patients and saving healthcare resources for the government, with newly created direct economic benefits up to 370 million yuan in the past three years. In addition, the products have been exported to countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America, helping increase the awareness of Chinese brands and products.