Aircraft enters €7m Italian Distribution Contract with Viglia (Press Release)
Posted on Thu 7th June 2007
Aircraft Medical, the UK medical devices company, which specialises in airway and diagnostic hand held medical devices, has reached an agreement with Viglia S.R.L. (“Viglia”) for exclusive distribution rights in Italy for the McGrath® Series 5 Laryngoscope (the “McGrath®”), the world’s first fully portable video laryngoscope. The Directors estimate that the agreement, which runs to December 2012, could generate revenues in excess of €7m for Aircraft Medical. The award winning device was originally designed by Matt McGrath, Aircraft Medical’s CEO.
Viglia is a leading Italian distributor of medical devices and focuses on the areas of anaesthesia, cardiology, intervention radiology, critical care, I.C.U. and operating room. Founded in 1967, Viglia now has three sister companies operating in the hospital and financial fields – Biomed S.R.L., Tema S.R.L. and Exel S.R.L..
The McGrath® video laryngoscope is a hand held medical device, which is used for a common global medical procedure called tracheal intubation. This allows medics to artificially take control of a patients breathing during general anaesthetic.
Of the 100 million general anaesthetics carried out globally per year, approximately 60 million patients are intubated with use of a laryngoscope. Airway problems remain the most frequent cause of death and brain damage associated with anaesthesia. The distribution agreement with Aircraft Medical represents a good strategic fit with Viglia’s product range.
Current working practices in this field use laryngoscopes whose design dates back some 60 years. The McGrath® represents the most significant advancement in laryngoscope design since the 1940’s and is revolutionising global practice of intubation.
The McGrath®’s portability differentiates it from existing video laryngoscopes, which rely on external cables for power and remote monitors. A further key advancement of the McGrath® is that it provides unrivalled vision of the larynx. This is achieved with an onboard miniature camera and display technology, which none of its competitors has. An image of the larynx is captured by Aircraft’s CameraStick™ located inside a patented disposable blade and is transferred through the device to a small flat panel screen mounted at the top of the handle. Clinical studies have demonstrated the McGrath®’s ability to reduce the risks associated with difficult intubations, which can lead to patient trauma, broken teeth, cross infection and in severe circumstances brain damage and death.
Marketing of the McGrath® is aimed at operating theatres (anaesthesiologists), critical care units, ER and other emergency medical services as support for difficult intubation cases and wherever a laryngoscope would be used.