New improved materials for medical devices database

Sep 27 2007

ASM International and Granta Design have announced substantial enhancement to the only materials database created specifically for medical device design.

The expanded resource, demonstrated at this week's Materials and Processes for Medical Devices (MPMD) Conference and Exposition in Palm Desert, CA, now helps designers of spinal implants research predicate devices and gain valuable insights in product development. The initial database module supporting cardiovascular device design has also been significantly enhanced.

The new ‘Materials for Medical Devices Database: Orthopaedic Module' initially focuses on spinal implants. The module establishes records for nearly 1,200 devices for spinal interlaminal fixation orthosis, spinal intervertebral body fixation orthosis, and pedicle screw spinal systems. Records are being continuously built out to include information on device applications and constituent materials, drugs, and coatings. Each material, drug, or coating is linked to further records providing data on mechanical and engineering properties, materials producers, and specific material grades, enabling device designers to rapidly acquire information to support device design, materials screening, and various regulatory filings. Future releases will extend coverage into other orthopaedic applications.

Over 1,600 additional device records have been established in the existing ‘Materials for Medical Devices Database: Cardiovascular Module', the authoritative source of mechanical, physical, biological response, and drug compatibility properties for the materials and coatings used in cardiovascular device applications. Records for key materials have been updated.

With the Materials for Medical Devices Database, device designers benefit from rapid access to authoritative sources of engineering data, biological response knowledge, information about specific devices, and FDA approvals information - in a single integrated, cross-linked system. The database helps designers to find, in seconds, relevant information that previously took days to assemble – all of it fully traceable to primary sources. With this information they can quickly screen, analyze, select, and source materials and coatings for device applications. Mining the database also helps generate new design ideas and avoid unproductive pathways.

“This announcement shows our commitment to continuously expanding and updating this powerful new resource, first released earlier this year, under the guidance of our expert Steering Committee,” says Raymond Sirochman, Managing Liaison to the Medical Device Community for ASM International. “Such currency is essential to our customers in the fast-moving field of medical device design. We are also excited to now extend the benefits of the database to orthopaedic device designers.”

ASM of Materials Park, Ohio, and Granta of Cambridge, UK, are working with a Steering Committee of distinguished experts from industry and academia to aggregate and maintain information from thousands of citations in the published literature, FDA device approvals information, manufacturers' datasheets, standards and web sites. The Materials for Medical Devices Database is powered by Granta's materials data management software, and may be licensed for web access or for in-house server installation. Companies licensing the system in-house have the opportunity to optionally add and manage their own proprietary information, boosting productivity by creating an integrated data management resource.

http://www.asminternational.org and http://www.grantadesign.com/