Turkish success in stents features in Sweden’s most important business newspaper.

Alvimedica is manufacturing catheters to be used in interventional cardiology operations. The company operates in one of Turkey's 21 free zones.

Free zone gives birth to a whole new Turkey.

Not only Turkish textile export companies want to break the outside world’s stereotypical view of Turkey. "When we say we are from Turkey, people initially think about the textile industry and Antalya," said Cem Bozkurt, president of this medical device company which exports to 43 countries and has big plans for expansion.

In the free zone in Catalca (west of Istanbul), Turkey develops a new front. Here is the young company Alvimedica -which manufactures medical equipment for interventional heart operations. Surgeons specialized in interventional cardiology do not have to open the chest, but reach the heart via a catheter inserted from the groin.

Alvimedica competes with American giants in its field of expertise.

"We are like a small, but a fast fish swimming amongst the sharks of the U.S." says the company president Cem Bozkurt.

In Catalca there are plans for an entire cluster of companies and a research center that serves medical technology. Alvimedica, a pioneer in its field, is far from the stereotypical view of the Turkish economy.

-The main bottleneck for us is the stereotypical image that the world has of Turkey, "says CEO, Cem Bozkurt, a former heart surgeon.

"There is a hesitation in the West facing Turkish hi-tech companies. But when our customers realize that they can develop projects together with us, it will open the doors. When they cooperate with us instead of an American company like Johnson & Johnson, the first contact is always the hardest. When we say we are from Turkey, the customer initially thinks about the textile industry and Antalya” he says.

Entering Alvimedica’s newly built plant is like climbing into a hyper-modern, sterile factory environment where thin catheters for angioplasty operations are manufactured.

Here also stents are produced - fine nets entering into the human blood vessels which are provided along with a medicine to keep the arteries open.

Each catheter is scrutinized in detail under the microscope and step by step during production. Where the sanitation requirements are the greatest, all -including visitors- have to dress in masks, caps, plastic gloves, protective feet covers and white disposable overalls.

-The air is filtered and changed 40 times in an hour, "says production technician Cem Bulut.

In by-pass surgeries the chest is opened up and a vein taken from the body. After such operations, it takes weeks for patients to recuperate, commented CEO Cem Bozkurt.

"But this technology has revolutionized cardiac surgery," he says.

"Our products were tested at different clinics like the Frankfurt University last year and a cardiovascular institute in Washington. It turned out our stents resulted in better therapeutic effect, "he adds proudly.

This business initiative began with 20 businessmen from Northern and Western Europe, mostly of Turkish background. In 2007, these businessmen formed an investment fund to develop the health care sector in Turkey. They contacted Cem Bozkurt, who was head of a major German medical technology company at that time in Turkey.

- The thing missing here was the manufacturing of medical equipment. So, young Alvimedica bought a small German company that manufactured catheters for medical use.

The young medical technology company now exports to 43 countries, including Latin America and the Far East. Its turnover is 37 million U.S. Dollars. In the future Alvimedica’s product portfolio will include products for brain surgery and devices for treatment of various cancer types.

The company's R&D department cooperates with universities in the U.S. (including Harvard University), Germany and Portugal.

-The future lies in healing diseases without opening the body up. We are intending to develop new catheters for the brain surgery to be used in the treatment of tumor and vascular diseases. We have new products tested clinically” said Cem Bozkurt, who would like to see a research collaboration made with the best Swedish neurosurgeons in the field.

Cem Bozkurt does not usually follow when Prime Minister Erdogan takes business people along with him on his journeys.

"Our customers are hospitals and health care administrators. The Prime Minister's trips are not likely to include visits to hospitals. So it is better our multi-lingual sales executives travel on their own.

The CEO has a small wooden horse in his office, a souvenir left from his past activities. Alvimedica does not sell to Sweden and Cem Bozkurt sees the Nordic market as the most intractable one. “Hospitals in the Nordic countries are often controlled by large purchasing organizations such as county councils,” he says.

-The doctors amongst you are not inclined to change their habits. Also, we may have been performed poorly at finding the right agent in the North.

Medical technology and the healthcare industry are growing sectors in Turkey. Private hospitals with specialists receive patients from several European countries where surgical waiting lists are too long.