ICU Medical and B. Braun Make Distribution Deal

San Clemente, Calif.-based ICU Medical Inc. and Melsungen, Germany-based B. Braun Melsungen AG have entered into a long-term distribution agreement, giving B. Braun distribution rights to promote ICU Medical’s Swabcap disinfecting cap for needlefree connectors in selected countries outside the United States. Under the expanded agreement, customers will be able to purchase the Swabcap family of products from B. Braun in more than 30 countries around the world.

Swabcap is a disposable cap designed to disinfect needlefree connectors with 70 percent isopropyl alcohol when attached to an intravenous catheter. The device’s patented design has been proven to help enhance the barrier to bacterial ingress while improving visual swabbing compliance in the process.

In a recent study by clinicians at New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the reduction in hospital-acquired blood stream infections (CLABSI) and blood contamination realized when using Swabcap “corresponded to an annual savings of $3.2 million in direct medical costs.” In commenting on the study in the New England Journal of Medicine Journal Watch, deputy editor Richard T. Ellison III, M.D. said that “the use of these devices appears to carry no apparent risk, and the cost savings in reducing the rates of CLABSIs and contaminated blood cultures could markedly outweigh the added cost of these devices in most institutions.”

“We look forward to working with ICU Medical on the Swabcap family of products and to exploring additional opportunities to improve patient safety,” said Dr. Meinrad Lugan, member of B. Braun’s management board. “We see this as the starting point of a common journey to provide products that help clinicians eliminate infection risks associated with infusion therapy.” 

“We are extremely pleased for the opportunity to work with B. Braun,” added ICU Medical CEO Vivek Jain. “Both our companies have a shared mission and long history of developing breakthrough products to help improve outcomes in infusion therapy. Through this collaboration and B. Braun’s global channel strength, we will be able to get more products into the hands of more clinicians to positively impact more patients.”