Over its more than 35-year history, Cardiva, a Spanish company that markets and manufactures a wide range of medical products worldwide, has collaborated with healthcare professionals and used innovation as a key pillar to achieve its main goal: improving patients’ quality of life and promoting sustainability in healthcare systems.
What was Cardiva’s goal when it was founded 35 years ago?
Cardiva was founded in Bilbao in 1989 when a team of three people began distributing products for a multinational company in the healthcare technology sector. Our goal was to address the need to change and improve processes and efficiency within an intelligent industry framework, while firmly committing to the sustainability of the healthcare system.
Today, we are over 170 people working in one of the leading companies distributing medical devices in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. We market a wide range of medical devices and collaborate with healthcare professionals to provide high-performance therapeutic alternatives and diagnostic tools that meet patients’ needs and reduce healthcare costs.
Over the past 35 years, we have continually strived to set the pace for innovation in healthcare technology and have maintained a commitment to patient care and continuous training for healthcare professionals. Today, we are a benchmark in the healthcare sector, and the experience and effort of our entire team are focused on driving solutions and products that minimize the impact of diseases and ensure the well-being of those who have always concerned us and for whom we work: healthcare professionals and patients.
How has Cardiva evolved throughout its journey?
Since its inception, Cardiva’s goal has been to transform lives through innovative medical solutions that improve patients’ health and promote the sustainability of healthcare systems. To achieve this, we have diversified our business and specialized in key areas of healthcare and medical technology: Cardiac Surgery, Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Interventional Cardiology, Neurovascular, Pain Management, Interventional Radiology and Oncology, Clinical Medicine, and Traumatology.
We market over 4,000 products that transform the lives of approximately 300,000 patients annually. Our expertise and reliability allow healthcare professionals from various specialties to find solutions for complex clinical needs.
Additionally, the company’s annual revenue growth demonstrates our consolidation in the Spanish medical device distribution market, as growth has been steady year after year.
During this time, Cardiva has become involved in other healthcare-related projects. What are those?
What changed for Cardiva was the decision to start manufacturing, rather than always relying on distribution, and I am a strong advocate of manufacturing in Spain. We decided to become manufacturers, even knowing we would be competing with well-established foreign companies. But we wanted to start this movement in our country, even though we knew it would be difficult to be competitive compared to other countries. This led us to become the first Spanish manufacturer of single-use protective medical materials through Cardivais, and we remain the only company that produces disposable surgical drape packs.
Additionally, through our involvement in projects like iVascular, the only company in the country conducting R&D on cutting-edge interventional medical devices; Peaches Biotech, another local company dedicated to regenerative medicine; and Histokine, a factory producing biological drugs and cell therapy for research in Bilbao, we have created jobs for over 600 people. Our partners and suppliers are often Spanish companies whenever possible; this is important for both our clients and ourselves.
We have also recently invested to strengthen our presence in Italy, where we have been in the north of the country since 2017, by acquiring IQ Medical, a company that distributes biomedical products and offers a comprehensive high-value-added service in the central and southern markets.
Why did you focus on the healthcare sector? What opportunities do you think this choice has provided?
I’ve always liked this sector. Cardiva was born from an idea and has been a project that has evolved over time. Curiosity and reality have guided our path. Knowledge comes with experience, but having fun with what you do is the difficult part, and in Cardiva and in this field, I have always managed to enjoy it. Opportunities have come from being in the right place at the right time. It’s a very dynamic sector in constant evolution, where you never stop learning about fascinating developments.
Spanish healthcare companies have the knowledge and a suitable medical infrastructure. Therefore, they have the talent and industrial capacity to design, manufacture, and distribute highly competitive and innovative local medical devices. However, compared to other countries around us, the industrial landscape in Spain is limited, so it is necessary to explore ways to strengthen it and become leaders in medical technology production.
What role do new technologies play in your sector? How are they helping in the distribution and marketing of your products?
New technologies are revolutionizing the healthcare sector, enabling significant advances in the fight against diseases of all kinds and improving people’s lives.
Internally, at Cardiva, we are adapting our business architecture so that our operational processes, data, and technologies support increasingly complex workflows. Therefore, we have implemented management systems, document digitization, and logistics solutions based on radio frequency (RFID) for our warehouses and our distribution in hospitals. This has gained momentum thanks to our agreement with the Spanish company Raindance, which develops hardware and software solutions for efficient inventory and warehouse management, aiming to digitize and streamline the distribution and logistics processes of materials in the healthcare sector.
At the same time, we are working to deliver devices that incorporate information and communication technologies to the healthcare system and its professionals for diagnostic, treatment, and disease prevention purposes, as well as for research and evaluation. Additionally, we offer ongoing training programs in these areas for the people in our organization. We are a fundamental part of this journey and the implementation of technology, which is already a reality, and we will continue to develop projects that contribute to new approaches.
What challenges does the medical device sector face?
In my opinion, the biggest challenge is the ability to think long-term. The emerging technologies we’ve mentioned will eventually be integrated into our healthcare systems, but we cannot expect that to happen immediately. However, we need to invest, train, and be ready to apply them to clinical practice as soon as possible, because they will undoubtedly revolutionize the sector.
Spanish healthcare technology companies provide expertise and reliability, allowing healthcare professionals from various specialties to find solutions for complex clinical needs.
We possess the knowledge and an adequate medical and healthcare infrastructure, but unfortunately, the industrial base in Spain is limited compared to other countries. It would be worthwhile to explore ways to strengthen it because we can be leaders in the production of healthcare technology.
Cardiva closed 2023 with a revenue of 81 million euros, up 5.19%. What are your expectations for 2024?
We expect to continue in this direction, consolidating our position in the sector and establishing ourselves as the best partners in the pursuit of excellence. Our values are clear and simple: technological innovation, strategic partnership, tailored solutions, and trust. We are committed to analyzing and sourcing the best products for medical specialists. We find what they need, while also considering how we can help improve hospital management.
Our daily work is also driven by our commitment to service: serving our clients, the healthcare professionals, so that they can meet the needs of their patients. This requires highly qualified professionals with a high level of training, as well as excellent service based on availability and proximity.
Finally, we are investing to continue producing our own products, which are already well-established in the market, while also investing in the development of new devices that allow us to dream of new solutions.
What are your short-term objectives? And if we look further ahead?
We are going to introduce a platform for artificial intelligence (AI) applied to medical imaging diagnostics, which will bring AI use in medical imaging closer to healthcare organizations in Spain. This is one of the areas of medicine with the greatest potential today and is also closely linked to significant advances in diagnosis and the goal of providing an increasingly less invasive approach to diseases.
Our priority is to bring high-quality healthcare technology solutions and devices to the market. We are firm in our goal of ensuring the well-being and safety of both professionals and patients.
In this regard, we are always attentive to the latest innovations and new opportunities that may arise to continue expanding and diversifying our business.
Are you concerned about sustainability and environmental performance when thinking about the future?
Of course. Our goal is to improve patients’ quality of life in collaboration with healthcare professionals, and this quality of life is closely linked to environmental care and respect. Our values are oriented towards high standards of quality in processes and a permanent commitment to environmental protection, for which we must be precise in meeting legal requirements and any other commitments the company takes on in line with its business strategy.
Thus, we continue to take measures to minimize our environmental impact and promote a positive effect on our surroundings. To this end, we have calculated our carbon footprint as a company and, for example, have installed photovoltaic panels at our headquarters in Lezama, starting to generate 24% of our consumed energy.
Additionally, we have successfully led initiatives to measure and reduce the carbon footprint across all our operations by implementing eco-efficient technologies and responsible business practices. However, the race in favor of the environment and against climate change never stops, and we continue to invest in energy-efficient technology and in raising awareness and involving all our collaborators.
