Originally Published MX March/April 2005

COVER STORY

With increased R&D spending made possible by its successful initial public offering in February 2004, Kinetic Concepts Inc. (KCI; San Antonio, TX) is moving to expand its leadership in the fields of advanced wound care and therapeutic surfaces.

The star of KCI's business in advanced wound-care systems is the company's proprietary Vacuum-Assisted Closure (VAC) technology. The success of the VAC technology—which accounted for just over 70% of the company's revenues in 2004 and nearly all of its meteoric sales growth since 2000—helps to explain why investors have put their dollars behind KCI's future.

Figure 1. The VAC Instill system by KCI. (click to enlarge)