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Despite their Indian roots, what sets Concept Medical and Envision Scientific apart, is their strong research and development backing His companies’ motto is ‘Advancing Innovation’ and has developed an innovative drug-coated stent and balloon catheter, with around 30 international patents to their credit. That is indeed a big number by Indian innovation standards. What makes this all the more remarkable is that Doshi has no medical background; he is a textile engineer by training. The development process was long and arduous, taking Doshi and his team seven years and $10 million to develop a marketable product. Doshi had learnt the importance of intellectual property rights the hard way, after he was sued for €25 million by Boston Scientific in the 2000s due to his previous stint at Sahajanand Medical Technologies. He lost the case, but had to shell out only €1,400 since his product was still in the clinical trial phase and was prohibited from commercialising it in Europe. Today, his products have received regulatory approval in Europe. Next, he has his sights set on USA, known for its rigorous FDA processes and also the biggest stent market in the world, with 2.5-3 million stents used every year.
Matters of the heart stents, which are metal or plastic mesh tube-like structures, are mainly used during angioplasties. This is how the process pans out. After patients come to doctors complaining of chest pain (angina), doctors recommend them for an angiography where the degree of blockage is ascertained by an inserted camera. If the degree of blockage is significant, an angioplasty is performed on the patient. During angioplasty, a minimally invasive procedure, a stent is inserted into the artery. The stent is surrounded with a drug-coated balloon, which expands during the operation thereby widening the affected artery, a process hence referred to as balloon angioplasty. During balloon angioplasty, the stent is placed into the affected artery to allow unrestricted blood flow.
