Medical Carbon Research Institute LLC/On-X Life Technologies Inc.

Abstract

In 1994, Medical Carbon Research Institute was formed to capitalize on the innovation in process control that led to the identification of a superior isotropic carbon called On-X carbon, which enabled the design of a valve that we hoped would require minimal anticoagulation. Dr. Russell Chambers, MD, from Intermedics, Inc. and Hemex suggested two surgeons—Professor Ernst Wolner, MD, from Vienna, Austria, and Francis Fontan, MD, from Bordeaux, France—as consultants. Since Chambers and I were considering an investment in Fontan’s vineyard, we visited him in Bordeaux. On another occasion, after a meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Chambers took Wolner, who had done a clinical trial on the Hemex Duromedics valve, and me to the Bahamas looking for an off-shore site for an assembly facility in Freeport. Fontan and Wolner were instrumental in nurturing the On-X valve. The 1992 improvement of the carbon process delivered precise control to produce isotropic carbon with remarkably improved properties. Data comparing the flexural strength and fracture toughness for On-X and Pyrolite Carbon demonstrated the magnitude of the superiority.