A Medical Device Daily

Wound Management Technologies (Fort Worth, Texas), a provider of specialty medical products, reported that its subsidiary Wound Care Innovations (also Fort Worth), has reached agreement in principle with Biocure (Milan, Italy) for the exclusive distribution in Italy of Wound Care's patented collagen CellerateRx products. The final contract is expected to be finalized by the end of September.

As part of the agreement, Biocure will assist Wound Care with obtaining a CE mark for Cellerate.

Cathy Bradshaw, president of Wound Care Innovations, said, "This is an important first step in providing Cellerate to Europe and the broader global markets. Diabetes is a growing worldwide health problem. We are strongly focused in building a national and global distribution network so that those suffering from the effects of diabetes worldwide can have access to the important wound management capabilities of Cellerate. Clinicians are having amazing results with Cellerate, particularly with diabetic wounds, and studies continue to support this. We are looking forward to obtaining a CE mark for Cellerate, which will facilitate the expansion of sales in Europe and elsewhere.

"Global projections for the diabetes epidemic show an increase from 189 million patients in 2003 to 324 million patients in 2025, an increase of 72%. This is significant as statistics show that every 30 seconds a lower limb is lost somewhere in the world as a consequence of diabetes. In fact, diabetic ulcers are estimated to occur in 15% of all patients with diabetes. The direct cost of an amputation is estimated to be between $30,000 — $60,000," Bradshaw said.

Giovanni Pinamonti, President of Biocure said, "We are pleased with the opportunity to be appointed as the exclusive distribution channel for Cellerate in Italy, where there is a large and growing market for the kind of wound care provided by Cellerate. These products have demonstrated excellent results in evidence-based studies for those suffering from diabetes. We expect Cellerate will be an important addition in our ability to provide valuable healthcare products to the Italian market."

Turkish hospital group orders Varian machines

The first hospital group in Turkey to offer cancer patients advanced RapidArc radiotherapy treatments has acquired four additional treatment machines from Varian Medical Systems (Palo Alto, California). Acibadem Healthcare Group (Istanbul, Turkey) has expanded its radiotherapy facilities in Turkey from three to five with new centers in Adana and Kayseri.

RapidArc treatments have commenced at Acibadem's Maslak Hospital in Istanbul, enabling the hospital to extend more advanced care to more patients, it said. Doctors at Maslak are using the technology to carry out image-guided IMRT treatments on a range of tumors.

RapidArc delivers treatment in single or multiple arcs of the medical linear accelerator around the patient and makes it possible to deliver image-guided IMRT two to eight times faster than is possible with conventional IMRT, according to Varian.

"Our group continually invests in the latest technology and we seek to offer the most advanced cancer care in Turkey," said Enis Ozyar, MD, professor of radiation oncology with Acibadem Healthcare Group. "We are delighted to be the first in the country to offer RapidArc treatments."

Acibadem established its first radiotherapy center in Turkey in 2005, siting two Varian Clinac linear accelerators in Istanbul Kozyatagi Hospital. A second center equipped with two more Clinac accelerators was opened in Bursa in April 2008, while the third — and largest — radiotherapy facility was established in at Istanbul's Maslak Hospital earlier this year, with a Trilogy unit for radiosurgery and a Clinac accelerator with RapidArc capability, along with a VariSource HDR (high dose rate) brachytherapy unit. Each site has a suite of Varian's ARIA oncology information management software and Eclipse treatment planning software.

The two new departments in Adana and Kayseri have just commenced treatments, matching Maslak with a Trilogy, a Clinac, a VariSource and full suites of software. With their new equipment and software, all five hospitals in the Acibadem Healthcare Group are able to offer IMRT and IGRT.