Innokas Medical and the Swedish company Bonvisi AB have recently signed an R&D agreement, and shall soon sign a manufacturing contract for the Bonvisi ENDO Pump system – ENDO P® – endoscopic surgery device. The agreement brought completely new international customer to Innokas, so this new contract can be seen as a significant step in Innokas’ growth and internationalization.
The Bonvisi’s ENDO Pump System is developed for endoscopic surgery use. When performing transurethral resection (TUR) of the prostate or the bladder, surgeons pass fluids through the region in order to irrigate the area. The current method uses irrigation bags suspended above the patient, using gravity to control fluid flow. Rudimentary and imprecise control of pressure is achieved by raising or squeezing the irrigation bag. Bonvisi’s new innovation, the ENDO Pump system introduces greater flow and pressure control by using a urology pump. The novel and patent protected method allows for more accurate control of the pressure at the operating site giving the surgeon better visibility, thus reducing the operating time and improving safety.
At the first phase of the co-operation between Innokas and Bonvisi, Innokas engineers are adopting the initial, clinically evaluated and CE-marked concept of ENDO P®, to design a full product which will meet all the clinical requirements. Bonvisi has also defined new project continuation to develop additional products of the ENDO Pump System, to be executed with Innokas as well. At the same time Innokas’ production engineering team is supporting the design transfer of the product to full-scale manufacturing of ENDO P®, where the product technical file is translated to a manufacturing package and integrated into Innokas manufacturing line. Later this year Innokas will prepare to manufacture the device for the customer.Tommi Kaasalainen, Executive Vice President at Innokas Medical, is very excited about the new contract.
“This is a great milestone for our team. Being able to identify improvement areas and finding solutions quickly were key in establishing Bonvisi´s trust in Innokas. From early on, our engineering team worked closely together with sourcing and manufacturing to ensure we reach the desired quality and cost level for the ENDO Pump System. And the first feedback from the surgery room for the latest iteration of the product is quite encouraging”, Kaasalainen says.
According to the Founder of Bonvisi, Anders Möllstam, the cooperation between Innokas and Bonvisi has worked well. He states that Innokas was chosen to be Bonvisi’s partner because of its longtime experience in medical device design and manufacturing as well as its very strong experience in QA/RA requirements.
“The potential market value for ENDO P® and additional products in the ENDO Pump System is estimated to be 1.6 – 1.8 Billion SEK in the dealer/distributor level, so we are very excited at Bonvisi that the ENDO P® project has been executed fast and precisely. Innokas Medical was chosen as a partner based on the result from a RFQ performed by Bonvisi, where totally of 17 potential contract manufacturer were evaluated. After the evaluation Innokas was selected as the best alternative from our point of view. The most important criteria affecting the choice were Innokas’ long-term know-how in medical device design and manufacturing as well as company’s very strong experience in QA/RA requirements”, Möllstam says.
Kaasalainen sees that the agreement made with Bonvisi is very significant for Innokas, especially from the perspective of internationalization and Innokas growth.
“Signing the agreement with Bonvisi is a concrete result of our efforts to grow internationally. It is great to see the commitment by both companies to a longterm partnership. Having both engineering as well as manufacturing responsibility for our customer´s product gives us the perfect opportunity to show where our competitiveness and value add comes from”, Kaasalainen concludes.
