Medtronic To Market Endeavor DES in India

Medtronic has received CE Mark (Conformité Européenne) approval fro the commercial sale of the Endeavor DE Coronary Stent with the Rapid Exchange Delivery System. Endeavor is claimed to be the first Cobalt Alloy drug eluting stent, to be launched in India and 40 other countries outside the US.

"We can now provide physicians and patients with Medtronic's high performance Endeavor DES. Physicians will now have a broader choice among the drug-eluting stents that are available to treat their patients. Endeavor offers a powerful combination of deliverability, efficacy and safety compared with other commercially available stent," said Milind Shah, MD, Medtronic.

Drug-eluting stents have been proven to be superior to traditional bare-metal stents at reducing the rate of repeat procedures due to re-clogging of arteries (restenosis) in patients with coronary artery disease.

According to Dr Jean Fajadet, Clinique Pasteur Unité de Cardiologie Interventionnelle, Toulouse, France and one of the co-principle investigators of the Endeavor II pivotal trial, the results from the Endeavor trials to date have been both comprehensive and positive.

(Ref : Chronicle Pharmabiz dated September 1, 2005)

Nirma Completes Due Diligence of Core

Nirma, the soaps & detergents maker, has concluded the due diligence of Core Healthcare and is expected to file an application (acquisition scheme) with the Gujarat High Court next week for acquiring the assets of the country's biggest intravenous (IV) fluid manufacturing company.

The due diligence was done by consultants Ernst & Young. Sources said Nirma will pay Rs 350 crore for the acquisition.

More significantly, Nirma is learnt to be negotiating a major deal with a foreign company for contract manufacturing of IV fluids, which will help it increase its capacity utilisation of the acquired business significantly. But Nirma sources categorically denied such a move.

Nirma's acquisition of Core Healthcare comes at a time when the IV fluids business is looking up. The price per unit (500 ml) of IV fluid has increased to Rs 11-12 after hitting a low of Rs 7-8 in 1998. Installed capacities of large volume parenterals (LVP) at Core is 24 crore bottles a year while the installed capacities of small volume parenterals (SVP) comprising 1 ml, 2ml, 5ml and 10 ml ampules is 48 crore a year. Nirma is also acquiring various divisions such as for making disposal syringes and needles. At optimum capacity, the acquired business can fetch Nirma additional sales of Rs 450 crore. The IV fluids business contributes 60% of this, sources said.

(Ref : Economic Times dated September 3, 2005)