A recent article on Establishment Labs, from
Seeking Alpha, highlights the issue of capsular contracture in breast implants.
Capsular contracture is not just a poor aesthetic outcome for breast implant patients, it is a health risk and requires eventual reoperation. A retrospective study of 5800 breast implant patients, conducted at an English hospital, suggests that Establishment Labs’ breast implants have significantly lower capsular contracture and reoperation rates than other types of implants. The author of the
Seeking Alpha article argues that recent warnings and bans related to breast implants should be positive for Establishment Labs.
The rate of complication with breast implants is high. A 10 year study by Allergan of both its smooth and textured breast implants showed a capsular contracture rate of 18.9% for augmentation, 28.7% for revision-augmentation, and 24.6% for reconstruction.
The article quotes the opinion of an expert on breast implants, who is unrelated to Establishment Labs. In this expert’s opinion, if Establishment Labs’ Motiva implants are proven by further studies to have a much lower rate of capsular contraction than competitor products, they should dominate the industry.
In his February interview with Alan Kohler, Paul Brennan indicated that PolyNovo’s lead breast device product will target the problem of capsular contracture
… the breast products…will be based on the NovaSorb polymer that bio-reabsorbs. They’re specific devices to repair defects in areas where there's a lack of tissue or a weakness in the tissue…for the breast products there's a range of products that we’re developing in partnership with Establishment Labs who's a breast prothesis manufacturer and those products will be around how to position breast protheses better and stop what's called capsular contraction which is where the body builds a hard wall around an implant. We will regenerate the tissue around the implants in a way that reduces the risk of that scarring and contraction so that you get a better cosmetic outcome….https://seekingalpha.com/article/42...ted-establishment-labs-next-hot-medtech-stock
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