October 15, 2008 - Julio Palmaz, M.D. made his mark on the medical world 20 years ago with the invention of the stent which revolutionized cardiac care, and now more than a million people each year undergo coronary artery stenting to repair clogged arteries.
Today, Dr. Palmaz leads a team of scientists and high tech engineers at newly established Palmaz Scientific, Inc. on a mission to create safer and more predictable implantable prosthetic devices. Dr. Palmaz and his colleagues will introduce Palmaz Scientific, a new operating business, and present clinical trial results of the company’s first application of its innovative technologies at a satellite meeting at TCT 2008.
“The use of stents and other implantable devices in treating cardiac and other diseases has saved lives and advanced medical intervention,” said Dr. Palmaz, chairman, co-founder and chief scientist of Palmaz Scientific Inc. “However, inherent to all coronary implantables currently on the market are the risks of restenosis, stent thrombosis, embolization and the need of antiplatelet medications. By re-engineering the surface of the implants to better accommodate tissue and blood interactions and utilizing high technology processes yielding high purity materials in our all-metal micromesh stents, Palmaz Scientific plans to introduce a new class of stents and other implantable devices for a number of medical applications.”
For the past ten years, Dr. Palmaz and his team have researched the biochemical and molecular changes that occur with implants. They discovered that the type of materials used as well as their surface chemistry and configuration play a major role in the body’s response to the implant and attendant complications resulting from inadequate healing at the implant site. The Palmaz team developed the technology to manufacture stents, balloons and other devices using physical vapor deposition processing techniques -- similar to those used in microelectronics manufacturing -- to create an all metal, nitinol micromesh covered stent to promote endothelialization. The company has reportedly conducted extensive laboratory and preliminary clinical research on its proprietary thin film technology products and currently holds 37 U.S. and foreign patents related to the technology and property, with an additional 157 currently pending.
In addition to coronary artery and cardiac applications, Palmaz Scientific expects to develop products for use in renal, carotid, peripheral (upper and lower extremities), as well as non-vascular prosthetics for orthopedic and plastic and reconstructive surgeries.
For more information: www.palmazscientific.com