Company

Alpha Research began operations in 1990. It's facilities are in Switzerland (Lommiswil) and in Germany (Berlin). The company is certified ISO 13485 and fulfils Directive 93/42 ECC of the European Council for Medical Devices. Alpha Research products are distributed world-wide, except in the US and Canada, either through independent distributors or directly. All distributors have to agree by contract with the strict quality control of the company.

Alpha Research is a co mpany providing innovative solutions for the treatment of vascular and cardiovascular diseases. Vascular and cardiovascular diseases are the largest cause of death, disability and medically related expenses in the industrialised nations. An improvement in treating late stage vascular and cardiovascular disease could have significant benefits in both patient outcomes and in lower medical costs. Early stage vascular and cardiovascular diseases are treated with drugs, balloon angioplasty with or without stenting and artherectomy. Late stage vascular and cardiovascular diseases are treated surgically. In these cases, a bypass is constructed from either a synthetic material or from a segment of an artery or a vein harvested from a less critical location. It is estimated that over all 1,000,000 bypass procedures are performed world-wide.

Alpha Research developed a new principle in bypass surgery, the Biocompound Graft® vascular and the Biocompound Graft® cardiac, a hybrid vascular prosthesis constructed with the patients own vein to provide improved biomechanical properties which are unattainable with native vein and only comparable to arteries. Part of the same product family is the Biocompound Shunt®, an AV-access hybrid graft.

For conventional cardiovascular surgery, the Alpha Graft® PTFE vascular prosthesis with a unique VHF® System (Very Highly Flexible) is a valuable alternative in bypass surgery. Furthermore, Alpha Research developed the Reinforced Sternal Closure System (RSC®-System) improving standard surgical techniques to minimize sternal instability and infection.

Each of these products progressed through the regulatory sequence in the EU and has been approved for sale. Alpha Research owns patent rights to the construction, manufacturing and use of these implantable medical devices.

Based upon experience with our initial products and our knowledge of vascular and cardiovascular surgery, Alpha Research develops pioneering coating processes for cardiovascular implants.

Product Status

Alpha Research hybrid vascular prostheses for peripheral and cardiac occlusive disease address a market opportunity with more than Euro 500 million in annual sales potential. European clinical study results to date are excellent. The occlusive disease segment of product line provides the combination of improved patient outcomes which turn in overall moderately lower medical costs. Alpha Research hybrid vascular prostheses for occlusive disease can be viewed as the next generation of vascular grafts for patients who have inadequate blood vessel, harvested as a bypass graft from a less critical location of the patients own body. This market is one of the most rapidly growing markets for medical products during the past years. We believe that Alpha Research has the leading position world-wide in hybrid vascular prostheses for occlusive disease and is very competitive with its Alpha Graft® PTFE vascular prosthesis in the conventional market.

Hybrid biological access grafts for hemodialysis patients have demonstrated a reduction in time needed to stop blood loss following each dialysis procedure. Annual world-wide sales of AV-access grafts are believed to total approximately Euro 40 million.

Alpha Research sternal closure systems address a market opportunity with more than 70,000 procedures (10% of 700,000 procedures) every year. This reflects Euro 60 million in annual sales potential. The sternal closure segment of product line provides the combination of improved patient outcomes which turn in overall moderately lower medical costs.

Alpha Research's Special Competence

Alpha Research has a pipeline of exciting products and expects to make rapid progress during the coming year. We believe that the medical devices which we have developed can make significant contributions to improve the treatment of late stage vascular and cardiovascular disease by reducing mortality, reducing morbidity, reducing the length of hospital stays, and shortening recovery times. The products which Alpha Research has developed are very high value-added devices. Consequently, Alpha products can reduce the costs of medical care and provide excellent financial returns to investment.

Based upon the marketing concept of training surgeons in exclusive workshops at Berlin, Alpha Research has a strong position in the target market with excellent access to opinion leaders. Alpha Research has a unique experience with a workshop series for more than six years. This concept displayed in the past the fast and successful introduction of new products and is promising for pipeline and OEM products.

The perhaps most distinctive feature of Alpha Research is it's employees. They have an unusually broad range of skills. Alpha Research has highly experienced employees with the unique competence, abilities and determination to carry through the successful development and production of the company's products.