A research team from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) is developing a heart stent called Inastent as part of its innovative health product efforts. The name Inastent reflects the appreciation for local researchers’ work and national pride in innovation.
This heart stent research began in 2013 and has already received a patent for the design and material of the stent prototype.
This innovative health product involves 40 researchers, including faculty and students. It is currently being tested on larger animals following previous tests on smaller animals.
If successful and without significant issues, the product will move on to human clinical trials for patients with a history of heart disease.
“If there are no problems, we aim to start clinical trials next year,” said Professor Widowati Siswomihardjo, one of the researchers, after presenting the results to the Asian Development Bank’s Board of Directors during their recent visit to UGM.
Professor Widowati explained that the heart stent research has been lengthy due to the extensive initial process of creating the prototype and selecting the materials for the stent, which involved interdisciplinary researchers.
“We can now say that we have two research innovations related to the metal stent material, which has been patented as the first-generation stent, and for the next generation, related to drug-eluting stents,” said the professor from the UGM Faculty of Dentistry (FKG UGM).
Regarding the prospects of mass production for this innovative product, Professor Widowati acknowledged that she is not rushing to meet this target due to the time required for the clinical trial stages.
“The process is very challenging, and so far the results have been good,” she explained.
Professor Widowati emphasized that if the product successfully passes clinical trials and obtains approval for circulation, it is expected to be competitive with imported products.
“It should be cheaper and covered by BPJS (the Indonesian National Health Insurance),” she concluded.
Author: Gusti Grehenson