Thiruvananthapuram | SCTIMST and Invasive Technologies have unveiled a new coronary stent, "Chitra Core," marking another step in the institute's efforts to develop affordable cardiac devices.

The drug-eluting stent is built on a Cobalt-Chromium alloy platform and is coated with the drug Everolimus, a Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) statement said here on Tuesday.

It has been designed with 30-40 per cent less metal than conventional coronary stents currently available in the market, it said.

According to the developers, the reduced metal content is aimed at causing less damage to blood vessels and lowering the risk of complications such as restenosis, or re-narrowing of the artery, and late-stage thrombosis.

The stent has been designed by the Division of Artificial Internal Organs at the Biomedical Technology (BMT) Wing of SCTIMST.

The technology was transferred to Invasive Technologies Pvt Ltd under a memorandum of understanding signed in 2024, the statement said.

Invasive Technologies received the manufacturing licence from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in December 2025.

The product was soft-launched at the 2026 annual meeting of the Interventional Cardiology Council of Kerala (ICCK) held in Thiruvananthapuram.

The launch comes more than three decades after SCTIMST began its journey in indigenous cardiac device development with the Chitra Heart Valve in the 1990s.

The institute said it is also working on another coronary stent, "Chitra TiN", which uses a Titanium Nitride (TiN) coating instead of a polymer.

The TiN-coated stent is a polymer-free bare metal stent and is now entering pre-clinical evaluation ahead of a planned global launch.

According to the developers, the TiN coating prevents direct contact between the metal surface and blood and tissue, which could help reduce the risks of restenosis and clot formation.

The developers said no coronary stent currently available in the global market uses TiN coating, making Chitra TiN a first-in-class innovation.

The project was supported by the Technical Research Centre for Biomedical Devices under the Department of Science and Technology.

The innovation was also recognised among the top three health innovations at the 2024 Aegis Graham Bell Awards and among the top 12 innovations at the IIT Madras Incubation Cell's BUILD (Boeing University Innovation Leadership Development) programme in 2023, the statement said.

The developers said the new stent technologies were aimed at combining advanced cardiac care with cost-effective indigenous manufacturing.