SINGAPORE - Homegrown medtech startup Advent Access has acquired the global manufacturing and commercialisation rights to the Vwing Vascular Needle Guide product line and other key assets from US vascular technology company Vital Access.
The acquisition is part of Advent's plans "to establish a leading portfolio of vascular access solutions" to address key gaps in enabling haemodialysis to be delivered in "novel or alternative care environments", Advent said in a media statement on Thursday (Oct 4). It also opens up the firm to the US market, the world's largest market for haemodialysis.
The firm declined to reveal the cost of the acquisition, but founder and chief executive Peh Ruey Feng told The Business Times that it was a deal they managed to arrange with Deerfield Management, a large healthcare investment firm based in New York.
The Vwing technology complements Advent's av-Guardian technology, the firm said, and acquiring the manufacturing and commercialisation rights enhances Advent's potential global customer base and intellectual property portfolio.
Vwing is a US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) 510(k) cleared device, marketed in the United States and approved for use in markets including Europe, Canada and New Zealand.
The technology is designed to "facilitate safe and reliable access to arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) in obese patients suffering from end-stage renal disease undergoing haemodialysis", Advent detailed in its statement.
Vwing is a surgically placed needle guide implant that provides a target for needle insertion, guiding a dialysis needle more easily into a deep vessel - especially an arteriovenous fistula (AVF) that is subjected to six and up to 18 cannulations a week for hemodialysis treatment.
An AVF is a surgically created connection between an artery and a vein for dialysis use, and cannulation in dialysis is the process of having a tube inserted into the body for the removal and delivery of blood.
The acquisition brings the total number of patents and applications owned or exclusively licensed by Advent from 20 to 43, with a total of 510 issued claims.
Advent, which was spun-off from A*Star, now owns one of the industry's most extensive IP (intellectual property) portfolios in technology-assisted use of AV fistulas, Mr Peh said.
He noted that "for a pre-series A funding startup, 43 patents and 510 issued claims is an IP armamentarium about five times to 10 times larger than an average medtech startup at the same stage".
"Together with our core technology, the av-Guardian, we have the opportunity to create a leading portfolio of vascular access solutions, with the potential to enable haemodialysis to be provided beyond traditional care settings," he said.
