In what may be seen as a pioneering effort in the Indian healthcare scenario, a joint venture between the Thiruvananthapuram-based Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) would make its presence felt in the production of animal tissue for medical devices.
The first collection of animal tissue for medical use from the ‘GMP Tissue Harvesting facility for Medical Devices’ established at Meat Products of India (MPI) Ltd, Edayar Koothattukulam, has begun. MPI employees have been accorded training by SCTIMST for the collection of animal tissue. MPI Ltd will supply animal tissue from this facility to SCTIMST as well as medical device industry for manufacturing animal tissue based medical devices such as cardiac patches, wound care patches , tissue heart valves.
The animal tissue is collected as per an international standard (ISO 22442 Part2) which deals with ‘Medical Devices utilizing animal tissue and their derivatives’. This ensures checking the source of animal, its health status as well as the microbial status of animal tissue to be used in the manufacture of medical devices.
All these processes would be documented for aiding future technical auditing, thereby ensuring safe use of animal tissue for manufacturing of medical devices in future too.
SCTIMST had developed the know-how for processing animal tissue for medical use, such as cardiac patches, wound care products, durapatch, bioprosthetic heart valve and the like, complying with international standards.
Although India is a major exporter of meat, there had been no established source for biomedical quality animal tissue in the country till date. Through this venture, MPI will be supported by SCTIMST to attain this unique status, which would in turn aid the development of affordable medical devices in our country.
The Indian medical device/equipment market is estimated to be at $4 billion, of which 70% is imported. The latest SCTIMST endeavour is another attempt towards development of indigenous medical devices thereby reducing import burden.
