Surgical closes in on new US dealers
The US is seen as a key market for Leeds-based SI as more than one in three Americans are classified as obese.
SI specialises in manufacturing extra-long medical instruments as the normal sized ones are too small to use in gastric band surgery or other procedures on obese patients.
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Hide AdSI announced the appointment of a new president of US sales and operations at the beginning of this month.
Rick Barnett joined from Integrated Medical Systems where he provided on-site clinical support for minimally invasive procedures.
Mr Barnett’s role is to drive the sale of SI branded products in the US.
He has taken responsibility for managing the various US sales channels that have already been established and his role will be to expand the US business using his experience in the endoscopic sector.
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Hide AdSI is expected to announce the new dealers in the coming week. They will become champions of SI’s new products for keyhole surgery and will push these products to surgeons across the US.
SI said the US is its largest market opportunity, with 28 per cent of overall revenues generated there in 2012.
One of SI’s key products the Pretzel-Flex, a pretzel-shaped device that can reposition large organs such as the liver during keyhole surgery, has gained FDA approval. In January the latest 3mm version of the Pretzel-Flex, which is smaller than previous versions, also received FDA approval to be sold in the US.