Cambridge, UK and Cleveland, OH, February 13, 2007

Materials for Medical Devices Database

New Tool for Med Device Makers Cuts R&D Costs, Speeds Development

ASM International and Granta Design today unveiled the first and only materials database created specifically to support medical device design. At stake is the ability to radically reduce many aspects of R&D expenses and to accelerate the development of new devices.

The all-new Materials for Medical Devices Database: Cardiovascular Module marks the first time that researchers and designers will have access to a comprehensive and authoritative source of mechanical, physical, biological response and drug compatibility properties for the materials and coatings used in cardiovascular device applications.

The Cardiovascular Module is the result of thousands of hours of data acquisition, peer-review, and verification by specialists. It includes a comprehensive presentation of interrelated information, all fully traceable to primary sources. This includes extensive expert reviews and thousands of citations to published literature, FDA device approvals information, manufacturers’ datasheets, standards and web sites.

"This database is specifically designed for the identification, screening and selection of material grades, manufacturing processes and suppliers," said Michael N. Helmus, Ph.D., Chairman of the ASM Medical Devices Database Committee and Senior Vice President of biopharma at Advance Nanotech, Inc.

"The real benefits for device manufacturers come from rapid access to authoritative sources of engineering data, biological response knowledge, information about specific cardiovascular devices and FDA approvals information - in a single integrated and cross-linked source," said David Cebon, Ph.D., Managing Director for Granta Design.  "Using the MMD database, all relevant information can be found in seconds. With conventional tools and sources, this process could take days or even weeks."

Under the guidance of the expert steering committee, ASM of Materials Park, Ohio, and Granta of Cambridge, UK, collaborated to aggregate information from numerous diverse sources into a single fully relational knowledge resource, including literature citations that provide further details on evaluations done by researchers. The database is powered by Granta’s materials data management software, and companies or organizations licensing this system can optionally add and manage their own proprietary information.

"The Cardiovascular Module contains a wealth of data that medical device designers have wanted for a long time," Helmus said. "It helps them understand what we know about previously used materials, so that they can leverage existing knowledge to potentially facilitate shorter and more cost-effective R&D programs. In addition, it will be useful for Quality Systems for incoming specification testing, biocompatibility and sterility databases and for SAP™ users and purchasing people, so they can understand what types of materials can be used as a substitute for other materials."

The database provides substantial assistance in quickly screening out all the combinations of materials, drugs and coatings which have been shown not to be compatible or suitable.  "A powerful reporting capability performs this function, leaving the designer with a subset of viable candidate solutions from which to conduct a more in-depth assessment," Cebon said.  "The time and money saved by this avoidance of blind alleys can be substantial."

The underlying materials data management software used to collate and publish the Medical Devices Database may also be used in-house by device manufacturers or regulatory agencies to manage their own proprietary data, to add new information in real-time and to publish data to their own users.

The Cardiovascular Module may be licensed for web access or for in-house server installation.  The next module, covering Orthopedic applications, is under development. 

LINKS TO FURTHER INFORMATION:

Materials for Medical Devices Database - product information

ASM International - www.asminternational.org

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