TekCyte has developed a safer alternative to paclitaxel stents

TekCyte has developed a new biocompatible stent coating as an alternative to the currently available drug-coated stents, creating better outcomes for patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD).

Dr Tony Simula, CEO at TekCyte, saw a gap in the market to address the need for safer stents for patients suffering from the complications of PAD, setting a course for this Australian medical coating manufacturer to develop their hyperbranched polyglycerol stent coating, BIOINVISBLE.

“There is a high complication rate with the current range of stents available for patients with PAD. Unfortunately, medical device manufacturers have found it difficult to fully address this issue and are looking for new ideas,” says Dr Simula.

“We developed BIOINVISBLE to be easily applied to any existing metal stents and scalable to meet future commercial demands.

“Our patented technology is an ultra-thin, highly hydrophilic polymer that is chemically bonded to the surface of a stent, providing a protective barrier against the body’s immune cell responses to foreign objects, such as stents.”

Use of drug-eluting stents to treat occluded arteries, in particular paclitaxel-coated stents, has increased in recent years due to the product demonstrating a higher success rate in mitigating restenosis in comparison to bare metal stents.

However, the use of paclitaxel-eluting stents has not eliminated restenosis and they are now under investigation, due to links between the use of this potent cytotoxic agent on drug-eluting arterial stents and increased mortality rates after three years.

“The idea of using BIOINVISIBLE has significant possibilities to transform the current stent coating landscape, and we didn’t want to leave the concept without exploring it fully,” says Dr Simula.

“Our research shows that BIOINVISIBLE has the potential to address the high failure rates of existing drug-eluting and bare-metal stents by tackling both blood clots and intimal hyperplasia associated with in-stent restenosis, without the release of drugs or other active agents.

“We're excited by the prospect of working with a major device company to bring to market the first truly biocompatible BIOINVISIBLE stent, with the opportunity to provide medical device manufacturers a safer and drug-free alternative stent.”