Broadening the Horizon

Abstract

At the time of the acquisition of the Medical Products Division of General Atomic by Intermedics, Inc., its President signed a statement that Intermedics had no intention to enter the heart valve replacement market. The St. Jude litigation changed CarboMedics’s perspective on the restriction. CarboMedics chose to broaden its scope to include the development of heart valve replacements along with other directly marketed devices. As an example, CarboMedics would first supply heart valve replacements to the People’s Republic of China and later to others. In the long term, CarboMedics’s material capabilities would include biomaterials other than carbon, metals (titanium and tantalum), as well as ceramics. For example, in 1999, Michael Jarcho approached CarboMedics with a proposal to produce hydroxyapatite, a synthetic form of mineral that is a natural component of bone. Going forward beyond Chap. 14, later chapters will focus specifically only on advances in carbon heart valve replacements.