A Medical Device Daily

Paradigm Medical Industries (Salt Lake City) reported it has signed an exclusive agreement with Lace Elettronica (Rome) to distribute the Italian firm’s Lace Glaid electrophysiology instrument for the early detection of glaucoma.

Terms were not disclosed.

Lace’s Glaid is a diagnostic that uses a pattern electroretinogram to provide a visual stimulus that generates electrical responses of the retina to measure the physical condition of the retina’s ganglion cells. Retinal ganglion cells collectively transmit visual information from the retina to several regions in the midbrain. There are about 1.2 million to 1.5 million retinal ganglion cells in the human retina.

Glaid was approved by the FDA in 2007. It has undergone extensive testing and clinical studies in the U.S., Canada and Italy.

The current state of the Glaid technology was developed by Vittorio Porciatti, MD, who also is involved in further Glaid-related research at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.

“We believe the Glaid device is the most significant development in glaucoma detection in the last 20 years,” said Paradigm Medical CEO Raymond Cannefax. “It represents a multimillion-dollar market opportunity for our company.”

“The Glaid device is believed to be the fastest method of testing for retinal ganglion cell loss,” Cannefax said. “[It] not only measures dead and living ganglion cells, but also detects ailing ganglion cells. Due to the device’s ability to detect dying ganglion cells, in most cases the viability of these cells can be fully restored with treatment.”

Glaucoma, caused by deterioration of the optic nerve and related ganglion cells, is the second leading cause of permanent vision loss. It affects one in five people over age 50.

In other agreement news, Premier (San Diego), a healthcare alliance with 1,700 members, said it has renewed its agreement with Ascent Healthcare Solutions (Phoenix), a reprocessor of single-use medical devices (SUDs). Under the three-year contract extension, Premier members are projected to save $92 million and eliminate nearly 3 million pounds of medical waste.

Premier members can safely maximize their savings and environmental stewardship by taking advantage of the broad range of reprocessed cardiovascular, endoscopic/laparoscopic, general surgery/OR, orthopedic/arthroscopic, gastroenterology, respiratory and ophthalmology devices as well as recycling services that Ascent offers.

Reprocessed devices typically cost about half as much as purchasing a new device. The resulting savings, which can exceed $1 million for a large system, can be applied to patient programs, clinical staffing, purchase of new medical technologies or other initiatives proven to enhance patient care.

In addition to SUD reprocessing, Premier members can participate in Ascent’s Advantage recycling program to reduce the demand for resources needed to manufacture new devices. Under this program, Ascent jointly works with a facility to collect, disassemble and recycle medical devices that have not been cleared for reprocessing by the FDA.