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SMT aims to be one of top-three stent players in Europe, eyes tier I cities

Morgan Stanley and Samara Capital-backed cardiac stent manufacturer, Sahajanand Medical Technologies (SMT) is banking on a recent global study, which showed that its Supraflex stents are clinically at par with Abbott’s Xience stents, to aim for the top spot in the domestic market and also be among the top three players in Europe. Surat-based SMT is at present the number 2 player in the Rs 12–20 billion Indian stent market and has a less than 5 percent share in the international market. Ganesh P Sabat, chief executive officer of SMT, claimed the TALENT study showed that with Supraflex stents there was a 61 percent less chance of repeat intervention compared to Abbott’s Xience. The clinical trial, known as TALENT, had carried out a 1:1 comparison of ultra-thin, drug-eluting stent Supraflex with Xience family of stents from Abbott across the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria in 23 centers, covering about 1435 patients.

Upbeat about the results of the study, SMT now plans to approach clinicians in India to adopt the India-manufactured stent more widely. It draws more than 60 percent of its revenues from tier II and III cities. SMT has managed to grow its share from 15 percent about a year ago to around 22 percent now at the expense of other multinational players, which lost their share after stents were brought under the price cap policy. Abbott discontinued its Alpine stents from the Xience family in April this year, and has not introduced the Xience Sierra stent in India. At present, Xpedition and Prime stents, under the Xience family, are available in India.

From a loss-making company in 2012-13, SMT has turned around its operations by tweaking its business strategy (with focus on tier II and tier III markets and a direct distribution model). In 2017-18, the company posted revenues close to Rs 400 crore. Meanwhile, having raised Rs 300 crore from PE firms such as Morgan Stanley and Samara Capital, SMT now plans to put the funds to use to expand its production capacity in India and to build a commercial team for Europe. SMT exports to 65 countries, but has less than 5 percent market share in most of the international markets, where it is present. In India, it is planning to expand its stent-making capacity from a current 480,000 units per year to about a million and is scouting for land in Gujarat and Telangana for the project.

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