A Medical Device Daily

During the 5th EACTS (European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgeons/ESTS (European Society of Cardio-thoracic Surgery; Stockholm, Sweden) joint meeting, held September 10-13 in Stockholm, Sorin Group (Berlin) organized its second investigator meeting on “Solo Valve Trial,” the European Multicentric Clinical study on Freedom Solo aortic bioprosthesis, a totally biological pericardial valve.

Preliminary and interim analysis data have confirmed the performances of the product in terms of haemodynamics, recovery of left ventricle systolic function, low early and late-complication associated with friendly implant technique, the company said.

“Freedom Solo represented an innovation in the heart valve prosthesis arena, due to its unique characteristics of being a totally biological valve, virtually identical to the native valve, which can be easily and quickly implanted with a single suture line, giving superior results in terms of haemodynamics. Since its first launch in the market in late 2004, we have implanted almost 150 units at our institution with excellent results”, said Dr. Sven Beholz (Charite Hospital, Berlin).

“Our patients need three new aortic leaflets only to replace their native diseased leaflets. In clinical practice Freedom Solo allows most of the patients to avoid conventional prosthesis with polyester materials. This results in better haemodynamic performances and an improved patient well-being”, said Dr. Alberto Repossini (Istituto Clinico Humanitas-Gavazzeni, Bergamo, Italy), the first worldwide implanter of Freedom Solo in 2004.

This aortic valve has no rigid support that other biological valves have, so called stented valves. Such design allows Freedom Solo to have a better haemodynamic performance without making the implant procedure more complex, since a single suture line only is required, the company said.

Due to its recent implant of Freedom Solo, the Zwolle hospital center in the Netherlands is the 100th user center of Freedom Solo in Europe.

“Freedom Solo is the result of more than 25 years of Sorin Group in-house expertise in the harvesting and treatment of biological tissues and manufacturing of high performance bioprostheses,” said Franco Vallana, president of the Cardiac Surgery Business Unit.

Diabetes experts issue global call to action

In what they termed a “Global Call to Action” diabetes experts from Europe, Latin America, Asia, the U.S., Canada and Australia have urged tactics to control the epidemic of diabetes by proclaiming the following:

  • We must improve the management of diabetes.
  • We must increase acceptance of insulin by communicating its use as a viable optimal treatment.
  • We must reduce the ever-increasing burden of this disease.

A consensus report launched Friday for urgent action to drastically improve the management of diabetes. The consensus report has been produced following a meeting of 25 respected diabetes experts from 16 different countries. The report says diabetes is a growing global epidemic, which has a significant impact on health budgets and threatens to reduce life expectancy. The coalition was formed to look at ways to address this worrying global burden after learning about the results of a major international survey, “Optimizing Control in Diabetes (OPTIMIZE) Survey,” in which almost 1,500 people with Type 2 diabetes from seven countries were questioned about their attitudes to diabetes management.

The OPTIMIZE survey concluded there were significant patient barriers to achieving optimal blood sugar control and reinforced data that revealed serious issues surrounding the acceptance of insulin.

The OPTIMIZE Consensus Report discusses key actions to help overcome the barriers to optimal blood sugar control, which include:

  • Creating a receptive environment.
  • Public awareness and patient empowerment must be improved.
  • Healthcare professionals must receive better education about insulin and the barriers to treatment so they can communicate the importance of optimal blood sugar control to patients.
  • Healthcare policy makers must understand the trust costs of diabetes.
  • Communicating the importance of getting to goal.
  • Help improve patient understanding that insulin treatment may eventually be needed due to the nature of diabetes and should be discussed as early as possible.
  • Insulin should be initiated appropriately and without delay.
  • Patient preference is important in all treatment decisions to encourage accurate self management.
  • Potential role of new non-injectable insulin therapies.

BioPartnering Europe

As BioPartnering Europe (BPE) enters its 14th year, it continues to stand out as the top European life sciences conference for partnering and business networking opportunities, the conference said. Nearly 1,000 delegates are now registered and more than 500 meetings organized so far through www.biopartnering.com.

BioPartnering Europe will again be held in London on October 8-10.

BPE delegates will once again be able to search partnering opportunities through keyword searches of detailed profiles on all companies, contact other delegates, arrange private meetings, and reserve meeting rooms in advance of the conference. In addition, biopartnering.com now offers a unique component — video profiles. This exciting new feature will give Open House and Emerging Company presenters the ability to add a short video to their biopartnering.com profile and thus promote their company in a dynamic and engaging manner.