Bloomington, Ind. – Cook Medical and Ambu A/S have agreed on terms to enter into a partnership under which Cook will distribute Ambu’s single-use, disposable duodenoscope in the U.S., following FDA clearance. The scope is currently being developed by Ambu to help address infections caused by cross-contamination.* Since 2015, U.S. regulatory authorities have increased their focus on endoscope cross-contamination, particularly reusable endoscopes for gastrointestinal use.
The use of reusable endoscopes can pose a contamination risk to patients because the devices are difficult to reprocess between uses. Alternatively, single-use scopes could have a significant impact on device-related infections and improve hospital workflows because they do not require cleaning or repair.
“Our mission is to improve patient care and we were looking for a solution to reduce the risk of infections associated with the use of reusable endoscopes,” said Barry Slowey, vice president of Cook Medical’s Endoscopy business. “Our collaboration with Ambu is based on a shared goal to enhance patient safety.”
“This is a significant milestone towards our vision of a single-use ERCP solution,” said Juan Jose Gonzalez, CEO of Ambu. “Together with Cook Medical we plan to bring single-use endoscopes to patients undergoing ERCP procedures, to reduce the risk of serious cross-contaminations.”
No further details about the agreement will be disclosed at this time.
*Ambu is currently pursuing regulatory clearance from the U.S. FDA for its single-use duodenoscope. These products are currently not available for sale in the U.S. Expected release for sale is before end of September 2020.
About Cook Medical
Since 1963, Cook Medical has worked closely with physicians to develop technologies that eliminate the need for open surgery. Today we are combining medical devices, biologic materials and cellular therapies to help the world’s healthcare systems deliver better outcomes more efficiently. We have always remained family owned so that we have the freedom to focus on what we care about: patients, our employees and our communities. Find out more at cookmedical.com, and for the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
About Ambu
Since 1937, breakthrough ideas have fuelled our work on bringing efficient healthcare solutions to life. This is what we create within our fields of excellence – Visualization, Anaesthesia, and Patient Monitoring & Diagnostics. The manifestations of our efforts range from early inventions like the Ambu Bag™ resuscitator and the legendary BlueSensor™ electrodes to our newest landmark solutions like the Ambu® aScope™ – the world’s first single-use flexible endoscope. Headquartered near Copenhagen in Denmark, Ambu employs approximately 2,700 people in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.ambu.com or Ambu A/S on LinkedIn.