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NRDC to provide health tool with IPR protection; low cost expected to spawn big market

The National Research and Development Corporation would provide the intellectual property right protection to the first indigenously developed balloon catheter in India and abroad. Balloon catheters are used in the dilation of constricted blood vessels to prevent heart attacks.

The invention would further reduce the cost of treatment of coronary artery disease. It costs almost half the price of the imported ones (Rs 20,000 a piece) and is being introduced in the Indian market this month.

The catheter was developed by Hyderabad-based Cardiac Research and Education Foundation. It had undergone extensive animal and clinical trials.

Arun Tiwari, director of the Cardiovascular Technology Institute which had coordinated the research on the catheter, said hardly 15,000 angioplasty procedures were done on an average every year in the country, while a staggering 20 million people were suffering from coronary artery disease.

He said the main reason for such a low rate of angioplasty procedures was the high cost of the treatment which varied between Rs 70,000 and Rs 150,000. A major portion of the cost went towards catheters and stents.

UNI

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