B. Braun Medical Inc. will acquire a suite of products from Starboard Medical used to secure catheters, the medical device firms announced on Tuesday. The companies didn’t disclose the terms of the deal, which B. Braun CEO Jean-Claude Dubacher said would improve patient care and extend the company’s position as a leader in IV therapy.
Irvine, Calif.-based Starboard’s Clik-FIX portfolio includes six devices, which provide an alternative to tape, gauze and dressings used to secure catheters. They include securement devices for peripheral catheters, central catheters, neonatal peripherally inserted central catheters, and a universal catheter securement device.
Kerry Edgar, president of Starboard Medical, said in a news release that the devices were created as “the result of a personal experience with an improperly secured IV catheter.”
“We're pleased that B. Braun, with its commercial capabilities and long history of IV therapy expertise, will bring the Clik-FIX device portfolio to more clinicians and more patients around the world,” Edgar added.
B. Braun Medical, a U.S. subsidiary of B. Braun, a family-owned company based in Melsungen, Germany, makes products for infusion therapy, dialysis and IV sets.
The company said catheter stabilization is important, citing stats that hospital patients are more likely to get an IV than any other device. About 30.2% of peripherally inserted central catheters and up to 69% of peripheral intravenous cannulations inserted fail, according to two studies cited by B. Braun. When those fail, it can lead to serious complications for patients, increasing their length of stay and costs.
