VessConnect “Plug Flow” innovative technology providing patients a safer, more effective and less costly procedure for vascular anastomosis

Project Information

PLUGandFLOW

Grant agreement ID: 790634

DOI

10.3030/790634

Project closed

EC signature date 25 November 2017

Start date 1 December 2017

End date 31 May 2018

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Nanotechnologies

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

SURG SOLUTIONS SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PLUGandFLOW (VessConnect “Plug Flow” innovative technology providing patients a safer, more effective and less costly procedure for vascular anastomosis)

Reporting period: 2017-12-01 to 2018-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The number of micro vascular anastomosis procedures is increasing due to the growing number of reconstructive surgeries, organ transplantation and coronary bypass performed every year. Based on our market research, only in Europe, more than 300.000 micro anastomosis are performed per year. To date, the standard procedure is the manual suture of the two ends of the vessel which is time consuming, requires high technical capacities and has relative high risks associated.
With Vessconnect, we address the issue related to vascular anastomosis by providing an easier, faster and safer way to perform these procedures using an advanced material, as Nitinol, with special physical properties of memory shape and super elasticity. Therefore, Vessconnect will provide the society with an innovative solution that will have a positive impact for patient, surgeons, hospitals and health care systems.
The general objectives of this Project was: Scaling up production and potential new materials, Size the vascular anastomosis market, To have a clear understanding of the regulatory procedures applied, Define the commercial strategy and Complete the business and financial plan.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

With our first prototypes we could test the usability and learning curve. With the second batch of prototypes we have confirmed the possible scaling down in size to the minimum diameter required. We carried out the market assessment gathering data from official national statistical data and by interviewing surgeons in different countries and prove our estimations. We understood the regulatory process and contacted several possible partners to give us support in the near future. We defined the work plan for the following years and financial needs to launch Vessconnect in 2020. Our commercialization strategy will be focused on our main stakeholders: surgeons, hospitals and patients, based on direct sales thanks to our commercial network. We disseminated the project by different means: the website has been updated regularly, LinkedIn profile created and we have been selected to join an Accelerator program for start-ups.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

There are some attempts to develop solutions for this sector,but are not available in the market, nor in clinical stage and the technique is not simple. Thanks to this project we have proven the market need, generated expectations from surgeons, found our industrial partner to scale the production and move forward to the pre clinical and clinical studies with guarantees of quality in our devices, gathered a wider knowledge about the certification process as well as select the partner to help us not only with the regulatory aspect but also with the clinical study; define our business model and financial plan.
Based on the outcome of this project, we can confirm the economical and technical feasibility of Vessconnect.

First Functional Prototype of Vessconnect