Secuderm® complements Vygon’s range of vascular access products and addresses demand from patients and caregivers for an easy-to-use method of securing catheters in day-to-day care
Ecouen, France, June 21, 2016 – Vygon, the specialist single-use medical devices group announces today that it will globally market Secuderm’s secondary dressing for patients with externalized catheters, called Secuderm®. This innovative medical device is a polyurethane film patch cut to size, applied with gel around the catheter.
Patients returning home with PICC Line, Midline or CVC catheters, or any percutaneous device, are exposed to a major risk of infection in their daily life, especially when the insertion site is in contact with water. The WHO and the CDC recommend protecting externalized catheters with an impermeable material when washing or bathing. However, a recent study (in French) by nurse Hélène Coulon shed light on the difficulties that patients encounter: 50% of patients with externalized catheters find taking a shower hazardous and 33% find it both hazardous and difficult. 74% of patients do not use any form of protective skin covering and 75% change it only once a week. Patients sometimes use rough-and-ready solutions – trash bags, plastic bags or even cellophane – which do not fully protect against water seeping in. Today, 100 million people worldwide wear a long-term catheter, representing a potential market of 2 billion Secuderm® dressings.
Secuderm designed its CE-marked secondary dressing[1] to provide patients with a comfortable, easy-to-use solution that holds their catheters securely in place. Secuderm® is fully watertight and has been tested at depths of up to 60 metres by French navy[2] divers. The dressing, a non-adhesive polyurethane film, is held in place by a silicone-based adhesive gel applied around the catheter insertion site, preventing skin irritation and any movement of the catheter when the Secuderm® product is removed. The position of the glued area can be changed to ensure that the adhesive is not always in the same spot. Studies[3] have shown the dressing to stay in place for up to seven consecutive days, providing excellent breathability for the covered area and thereby limiting the risk of infection related to saturation. The dressing is transparent, allowing the insertion point to be inspected at any time. Covered by an international patent, the innovative Secuderm® dressing is a fully waterproof, made-to-measure solution that protects the area without adhering to it.
“We have seen significant demand from patients who leave hospital with a catheter and have to continue their treatment at home,” said Eric Gilli, founder and chairman of Secuderm. “Protecting the catheter can quickly become cumbersome and uncomfortable in everyday situations, as well as for activities such as swimming or diving. The currently available solutions do not always meet patients’ requirements in terms of functional design, independence, simplicity and especially effectiveness. This is the reason that we have joined forces with Vygon, the catheter specialist, to market the innovative Secuderm® waterproof dressing.”
“To complement its vascular access range, Vygon Group wants to offer patients a product specifically for use in the home environment, where the constraints are very different from the hospital setting,” said Stéphane Regnault, chairman of Vygon’s management board. “Using Secuderm®, patients can continue to protect themselves from infections at home and in their activities involving contact with water.”
Secuderm® is available from Vygon distributors and subsidiaries: quote product ID VSDKITL VSDKITM.
About Vygon
Vygon designs, manufactures and markets high-tech single-use medical devices for health care professionals in hospital and for private and independent practitioners. Vygon is a world leader within this industry, offering a wide range of products in a number of clinical specialties: neonatology, adult and pediatric critical care, anesthesia, long-term vascular access, oncology, emergency, cardiovascular and surgery, and home care. With expertise right along the value chain, from product design to the delivery of training for medical personnel, Vygon provides health care professionals with effective and innovative products tailored to their needs and those of their patients, for optimum use and safety. The company distributes over 205 million products a year in more than 120 countries through its network of 27 subsidiaries and 331 distributors. Vygon products display the CE and/or FDA mark and are manufactured in the group’s eight factories in Europe, the USA and Colombia. A family company founded in 1962, Vygon is based in Ecouen, in France’s Greater Paris region. It is a mid-sized business employing 2,150 staff worldwide. The turnover in 2015 was €302 million ($328.6 million), with 81% of this derived from Vygon’s international business.
