We are in the business of proving safe and reliable products through quick response to the needs of medical professionals through product development.

At the time we have succeeded in the development of inter-aortic balloon catheter (IABP), most of medical devises in use in Japan were produced in the West. In response to the voices of medical professionals that they needed tools that matched Japanese morphology, we succeeded in the development of IABP in 1986 for the first time in Japan. Through development of catheters which are durable and safe to use we intend to continue to contribute toward improvement of patient QOL and progress of cardiac disease treatment.

As a result of our efforts in product development, our current product line has been expanded and includes PTCA balloon catheter for coronary treatment, PTA balloon catheter used in dialysis, micro-catheter for liver treatment and occlusion balloon catheter for cerebral vessel and aortic treatment. In the midst of rapid changes in the medical device environment, we are bolstering our development and manufacturing capabilities as well as our sales structure, and we are expanding our involvement in cooperative research with universities and cooperative ventures with domestic and overseas corporations to develop catheters that respond to the needs of medical professionals and which promote safety in medical treatment.

Although I was a complete novice in medical devices until the onset of heart disease of one of my daughters, I have since been involved headlong in the development work in such devices. What drove me was, of course, the “thought” as her father to help “cure my daughter’s disease at all costs” and to develop products that permits “painless and safe insertion.” Gradually that “thought” turned to a “sense of mission” which urged the inventor in me “to create for the society” and “save as many lives as possible.” Such “thought” and “sense of mission” drove me to search for concrete expressions of them and the search led me to IABP balloon catheter and the establishment of the Tokai Medical Products, Inc.

In retrospect through the years of developing medical devices, we felt that there is an important truth in the realm of manufacturing, those that must be passed onto the next generation. It is that of the pursuit of fine quality; when a satisfactorily high level in quality is achieved, that truth will definitely be conveyed to the customer who holds product in his hand.

This kind of thinking is what has been traditionally adopted in the actual workshop in Japan for centuries and has also been accepted in the world. I believe that such tradition has contributed to Japan’s postwar rehabilitation. We do hope to continue to follow this tradition in the manufacturing devices in the cutting edge technology in Japan.

Our mission as a manufacturer of medical devices, just as all the other medical device-makers, is to create new technologies to improve and enrich quality of life of those who suffer from diseases. All the more, we worry about the condition of Japan’s medical device market in which pacemakers and artificial valves are 100% imported. From the standpoint of supply security, we intend to keep reminding ourselves the importance of the Japanese role of medical device manufacturers and continue to strive for development and provision of medical devices that are on a razor’s edge because we only rely on imported products. And we intend to keep striving to polish our technology to become an extemporary corporation even though we are a small company on the basis of the idea “To save as many patients as possible.”