SMT Enters Structural Heart Market With Acquisition of Vascular Concepts

June 19, 2020 — SMT (Sahajanand Medical Technologies Pvt. Ltd) said it acquired of the structural heart medical device firm Vascular Concepts. The acquisition was completed May 27.

The company recently gained European CE mark for its Hydra transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) system in early June 2020.

Vascular Concept will retain its distinct brand and independence and Swaminathan Jayaraman, CEO of Vascular Concept, will continue to manage the operation of the company.

The company has operations in India and Thailand and has more than 200 employees, with two manufacturing sites and two research and development centers.

It is one of the oldest Indian medical device companies, established in 1988. It has a diversified product portfolio which includes coronary stents, cardiac closure devices, peripheral stents, unique balloon catheters like percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy (PTMC) balloons and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) devices.

Vascular Concept developed and launched the Hydra transcatheter aortic valve system, which received Indian regulatory approval in 2020. It is used for the treatment of high-risk patients suffering from severe and symptomatic aortic valve stenosis. The Hydra TAVR system is a self-expanding supra-annular transcatheter aortic valve, which presents unique design features and similar event rates compared to contemporary devices in separate clinical studies conducted in India and Europe. The TAVI market is growing at about 20% worldwide, Europe and the U.S. being the main markets to date.

“The structural heart segment is a fast-growing segment in cardiovascular industry. We strongly believe that SMT will play a major role within this segment and provide solutions to benefit patients and its wide customer base," explained Dhirajlal Kotadia, chairman of SMT. "Acquisition of Vascular Concepts Group reflects our commitment to become a leader in TAVI and structural heart technologies.”

“We are excited to join hands with SMT, who have a strong leadership in interventional cardiology and has demonstrated aggressive growth in this business," said Jayaraman. "This association will create tremendous market opportunities for both companies to grow in structural heart disease. Vascular Concepts is committed to driving further innovation in the field of structural heart, which can be commercialized together with SMT.”

With an addition of aortic valve to its product categories, SMT advances in its mission to provide best-in-class cardiac care to the healthcare community and patients.