Seoul, South Korea – From April 28 to May 1, Shanghai MicroPort Medical (Group) Co., Ltd. ("MicroPort®") attended the 23rd Cardiovascular Summit TCTAP 2018 that integrates the newest interventional techniques and devices related to patient care in the coronary, peripheral and carotid arteries, as well as structural heart disease. During the conference, MicroPort® hosted "Firehawk Challenging Hub-Meet the Best" Event, to introduce Firehawk® Rapamycin Target Eluting Coronary Stent System ("Firehawk®") to experts in attendance by lectures and case studies.
The event was chaired by Professor Seung-Woon Rha of Korean University Guro Hospital and Professor Jie Qian of Fuwai Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Professor Qian said, Firehawk® offers a highly innovative stent groove design. It features a 100% biodegradable PLA polymer and sirolimus drug combination, which ensures a steady and constant drug release rate and complete absorption of the polymer shortly after drug elution ends at nine months. He also introduced the global clinical study programs of Firehawk® - since the launch of TARGET FIM in 2009 following the first patient enrollment, the TARGET series studies enlarged its coverage from China to Europe, Southeast Asia, North America, and South America with nearly 17,000 patients enrolled in this large-scale global clinical studies.
In his speech, Professor Seung-Woon Rha said, coronary artery calcification is highly prevalent in the interventional treatment and is frequently associated with complications. It often presents a big challenge for balloons or stents to cross the lesion and it can make balloon dilation and stent deployment technically difficult. Based on these facts, calcified lesions should be attached a great importance in the treatment. With strong radial strength, Firehawk® can provide a good solution to the calcified lesion, and its safety and efficacy have been proven by clinical data. Professor Seung-Woon Rha said he hoped to see Firehawk® benefit more South Korean patients in the future.
In the conference, Professor Ruqiong Nie of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Professor Shaiful Azmi Yahaya of Institute Jantung Negara in Malaysia, Professor Yaojun Zhang of Xuzhou Third People's Hospital, Professor Linda Lison of Pantai Indah Kapuk Hospital in Indonesia respectively shared case studies of Firehawk® and explained complex lesions like calcified lesion, CTO, bifurcation lesion, to the attendees. All of these experts spoke highly of Firehawk®'s excellent crossability.
The revolutionary third-generation DES Firehawk® is the result of eight years of research and development of MicroPort® and it is the world's first and only target eluting stent ("TES"). As the world's lowest drug dosage stent, Firehawk® combines the merits of the bare metal stent and DES. It adopts unique in-groove abluminal coating design and target-eluting technique, which allow Firehawk® to achieve the same clinical efficacy with significantly low drug loading, benefiting vascular early healing.
Currently, MicroPort®'s new-generation drug-eluting stent Firehawk® and Firefighter™ PTCA Balloon Catheter ("Firefighter™") obtained regulatory approval in the South Korea market. The attendance in TCTAP will lay a solid foundation for MicroPort® to further expand the South Korea market and will promote the overall development of the company's international business as well. In the future, MicroPort® will bring more high-quality and high-end medical device to South Korea to benefit local patients.