GATT

GATT Technologies in Nijmegen has, together with Dr. Harry van Goor from the UMC St. Radboud, developed a unique polymer surgical tape that can be used instead of sutures with intestinal surgeries. For years surgeons over the entire world have longed to have a replacement for sutures at the close of intestinal surgeries. Sutures can leak, which annually causes some 15,000 deaths worldwide. This tape, developed by GATT Technologies, can be absorbed by the body and is an ideal replacement. “We anticipate saving many, many lives, and saving much pain and costs with this tape,” states Johan Bender, CEO of GATT Technologies. GATT stands for General Adhesive Tissue Tape. A successful market launch of the GATT-tape is expected to save billions of Euros in cost savings, as closure through tape is not only faster than sutures, it avoids that tens of thousands of patients being re-hospitalized and having to be operated on again due to leaking sutures. Partly through an investment by Oost NL through the Innovation and Investment Subsidy Gelderland, GATT Technologies expects the tape to be ready for use in operating rooms by 2015. Innovations in medical devices are necessary in order to halt the rising costs of healthcare. This is the reason that Oost NL, through financing facilities such as the Innovation and Investment Subsidy Gelderland, among others, has invested in promising innovations such as the GATT Technologies surgical tape.