Gore has announced the acquisition of InnAVasc Medical, a privately held medical technology company focused on advancing care for patients with end-stage renal disease who utilise graft circuits for dialysis treatment.
Jeffrey Lawson and Shawn Gage from Duke University School of Medicine’s Department of Surgery (Durham, USA) developed the InnAVasc device, which is specifically designed to allow for safe, easy, reproduceable and durable access for dialysis treatment of patients with graft circuits.
The investigational InnAVasc device is designed to protect the graft from backwall punctures and reduce the damage associated with frequent needle sticks which occur over the lifespan of a dialysis graft. This can lead to circuit failure and shortened circuit life. “To be stuck with two needles three times a week for haemodialysis for 52 weeks, that is 312 times a needle goes into a patient’s graft each year,” said Stephen Hohmann, vascular surgeon at Texas Vascular Associates (Dallas, USA). “So having a graft that has the ability to decrease risk potential and long-term injury is definitely something that would be a game-changer.”
“Backwall punctures and damage due to excessive needling are painful and can cause unwanted bleeding, delay or stoppage of treatment, and reduced graft durability,” said Prabir Roy-Chaudhury, professor of medicine at the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, USA). “I greatly appreciate how this technology is intended to be so patient-centric, addressing this important interface need, for both clinicians and home caregivers.”
“We see an array of synergies working with Gore. The company is well recognised for its advanced material capabilities. [It has a] long history of designing graft solutions […] used in dialysis access procedures today, and we are excited to collaborate on future innovations,” said InnAVasc CEO Joseph Knight.
