Invatec: Italy's Home-Grown Device Model

Invatec is the product of a father's natural technical skill and love of using technology to solve problems, passed on to his son and daughter. Initially based out of the Venturelli family's home, Invatec started by building custom products for interventional cardiologists in Germany and Italy, and then became an OEM supplier to larger companies. The company initially relied on the Venturellis' (father's and son's) engineering expertise to develop superior technology, while maintaining the responsiveness to physicians' demands that first brought the company to physicians' attention. The goal: to develop a broad-based interventional vascular products business globally under the Invatec name. Already selling products throughout Europe and Asia, the company is biding its time before entering the US market. Invatec's initial product lines include interventional cardiology catheters and balloons, an embolic protection system designed for carotid angioplasty, and a line of interventional peripheral vascular products. The company has also developed a radio frequency ablation system aimed at treating a variety of tumors. To this point, Invatec has largely operated beneath the radar screens of major cardiovascular device companies, which tend to see the company primarily as an OEM supplier. Invatec's efforts to launch a wide range of branded products will bring the company head-to-head with large companies in an already-consolidated market in which superior technology, while essential, is often not enough to carry the day on its own.