Medical Plastic Data Service Magazine

 
 

A TECHNO-ECONOMIC NEWS MAGAZINE FOR MEDICAL PLASTICS AND PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

Our 32nd Year of Publication
Page  1 of 3

 

A Tribute

A Tribute To Prof. M S Valiathan

 

The Pioneer Of Medical Devices Development In India
(Courtesy : Balram Sankaran, Scientist, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences
& Technology, Trivandrum )

• As founder Director of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology (SCTIMST), Trivandrum, he identified the need and took unprecedented efforts to develop high quality medical devices and implants meeting international standards.

• Had a vision of establishing a world class Biomedical Technology Wing campus in the country along with a hospital (SCTIMST).

• Eventhough trained as a cardiac surgeon, he had the mind of an inquisitive scientist, practical wisdom of an engineer and enthusiasm of an entrepreneur.

• As a cardiac surgeon, his dream was to develop an artificial heart valve prosthesis to replace diseased valves and make it affordable to his large number of patients.

• He had the foresight to set up a Technology Transfer Cell in house to protect the intellectual property (IPR) and file patents for the inventions made in the Institute.

• Committed to ensure that the results of the research reached the patients in the form of commercially available and competitive devices and implants.

• Indian medical devices industry will always gratefully remember his contributions to the growth of indigenous medical device development in the country.

Professor Marthanda Varma Sankaran Valiathan (24 May 1934–17 July 2024), was a distinguished cardiac surgeon who is considered as the pioneer of medical devices development in the country. As early as the 1970s, he identified the need and took unprecedented efforts to develop high quality medical devices and implants meeting international standards. He was founder Director of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology (SCTIMST), Trivandrum, a unique Institution in the country that combines a medical hospital with a biomedical technology wing. The Institute was strategically placed under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India through an Act of Parliament in 1980, to support his vision of establishing a world class Biomedical Technology Wing campus in the country along with a hospital. The hospital wing set up by him, stood out for excellence as a tertiary care cardiac and neuro hospital and became synonymous with high quality patient care.

 

As a cardiac surgeon, his dream was to develop an artificial heart valve prosthesis to replace diseased valves and make it affordable to his large number of patients. As he embarked on this mission, he realised that developing biomedical devices, especially high risk implants requires a multi disciplinary approach and dedicated infrastructure for both research as well as testing which was lacking in the country. He therefore took upon himself, the task of setting up a multidisciplinary team of engineers, polymer scientists, biologists, toxicologists and veterinery surgeons to work on biomedical projects. Under his leadership, engineering laboratories for design, development & testing, precision tool room for fabrication and polymer processing labs were soon set up with best of facilities.

 

A polymer analysis lab which was much advanced for the time, with equipment such as DSC, TGA, FTIR, HPLC, UV Vis spectrophotometers and UTM was set up with expert faculty for screening and characterisation of biomaterials. For the first time in the country, a laboratory to study blood material interaction and conduct thrombosis research was set up in SCTIMST. A toxicology division was established to assess material safety and identify biocompatible materials as per ISO standards. An animal facility for breeding and care of experimental animals comprising rabbits, mice and guinea pigs was also established as a logical step to facilitate smooth conduct of toxicological evaluations.

 

 

To cap it all, a large animal evaluation facility consisting of a modern operation theatre, pre and post operative care for animals such as sheep, pig and dogs was established. An unmatched facility and expertise for conducting surgical procedures in large animals was established within the Biomedical Technology wing campus which played a crucial role in subsequent product development. All these facilities were conceived and implemented with deep thought that even after four decades, they still remain relevant, functional and continue to be part of safety and performance evaluation of a large number of devices and implants. These facilities have also been utilised by several medtech industries on a chargeable basis. In addition to these, a gamma radiation facility for sterilisation of medical devices was set up in the campus with the help of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.

 

Much before it became mandatory, he set up an Institutional Ethics committee which was chaired by a retired high  court judge to review proposals for human clinical trials. A library with huge repository of books and journals provided access to latest research information at that time. Under his guidance, a nation wide market survey to estimate the market demand and identify the medical devices to be developed was carried out.

 

He encouraged international collaborations and many faculty of Institute were given an opportunity to get trained abroad. Under an active Indo- UK program, several visits of experts from leading biomedical institutions in UK to Institute and vice versa took place.

 

Prof. Valiathan was committed to ensure that the results of the research reached the patients in the form of commercially available and competitive devices and implants. He had the foresight to set up a Technology Transfer Cell in house to protect the intellectual property (IPR) and file patents for the inventions made in the Institute. He was actively involved in scouting for appropriate industry partners to license the know-hows and IPR developed by the institute. He constituted a Technology Transfer committee with experts from academia and industry to develop policies and guidelines to facilitate transfer of technology from Institute to industry. It became evident to him that the technologies developed in the laboratory needed to be scaled up for mass production to be commercially successful. To facilitate a scale up of production and to ensure a smooth technology transfer to industry, a unique Technoprove facility was established in the Institute. This facility, in which the industry and institute personnel jointly worked towards solving the problems in scaling up and producing a large number of clinically usable devices became a catalyst for successful transfer of technology and commercialisation. The clinically usable devices were utilised for the conduct of unicentric or multicentric clinical trials as well as market seeding.

 

The tilting disc mechanical heart valve prosthesis launched as TTK Chitra Heart valve with M/s TTK Pharma (now TTK Healthcare) as the industry partner became a blockbuster success and is a testimony of the tireless efforts and commitment of Prof. Valiathan in overcoming the various scientific and technical challenges that came in the way. From selecting appropriate materials to its sourcing and processing, from design to testing and manufacturing, each step had several challenges as a heart valve has to beat over 40 million times in an year without any minute wear and tear inside the body. The heart valve finally launched was after a decade of sustained research and development efforts. It is implanted in over 200,000 patients successfully without any failures and continues to be the most affordable mechanical heart valve and widely used. The blood transfusion bags developed by the Institute was transferred to Peninsula Polymers (now Terumo Penpol) in the 1980s and subsequently to Hindustan Latex Ltd (now HLL Lifecare) both of which even today produce over 50 million bags annually and are extensively used for blood transfusion all over the world. The blood oxygenator and cardiotomy reservoir was commercialised as SPICTRA brand through South India Drugs and Devices Pvt Ltd (SIDD). Several disposables such as chest drainage system, urinary bags, custom packs, humidifiers etc were developed as spin off projects. Development of hydrocephalus shunt system, dental materials, embolisation materials, vascular graft etc were taken up during his tenure, some of which were later commercialised.

 

Eventhough trained as a cardiac surgeon, he had the mind of an inquisitive scientist, practical wisdom of an engineer and enthusiasm of an entrepreneur. It is no wonder then, that the high risk medical devices that he undertook to develop, achieved highest standard in performance and commercial success. Apart from medical device development, his contributions in patient care, medical and higher education, public health research, scientific administration, ayurveda etc were equally significant. Professor Valiathan received many coveted honours and was bestowed with the prestigious Padma Vibhushan.

 

The generations to come associated with the Indian medical devices industry in the country will always gratefully remember his contributions to the growth of indigenous medical device development in the country.

 
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