San Jose, Costa Rica. November 15, 2022. Shockwave Medical (NASDAQ: SWAV) a pioneer in the development of Intravascular Lithotripsy (IVL) to treat severely calcified cardiovascular disease, has announced its decision to commence operations in Costa Rica. The company will make a significant investment to build a world-class greenfield
manufacturing facility in
Coyol Free Zone in Alajuela.
This operation in Costa Rica will allow Shockwave to expand its current manufacturing capacity and will be in addition to the company’s current production facility in Santa Clara, California. The company is driven by
innovation to improve clinical outcomes for patients all over the world via its transformative IVL
technology for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.
“Costa Rica has emerged as an ideal location for the medical device manufacturing industry due to its world class manufacturing solutions in a very cost competitive environment complemented by a solid, highly trained talent pool and a business-friendly environment,” explained Michael Maszy, Vice President of Operations at Shockwave Medical.
“CINDE has been a critical strategic partner supporting all aspects of this project from site selection to identifying local partners in different areas such as legal, construction, project management, etc. All of which helped contribute to the success of our selection process and establishment of Shockwave Medical in Costa Rica,” continued Maszy.
The new manufacturing facility will be a state-of-the-art building designed to integrate the concepts of Lean Manufacturing with both LEEDs and Fitwel Certification to create an optimal environment for employees and medical device manufacturing. The 3,500m2 building footprint will house 1,000 m2 ISO-certified cleanroom, a warehouse and employee focused amenities such as an office cafeteria. This new building will support Shockwave’s growing product portfolio with additional capacity, manufacturing redundancy and additional supply chain risk mitigation.
Manuel Tovar, Minister of Foreign Trade, indicated,
"Shockwave's investment in our country adds to our growing and solid ecosystem for life sciences. Currently, more than 90 medical technology multinational companies have found in Costa Rica the ideal business climate to manufacture and export their products. We are excited to see how Costa Rica will add value to a pioneering company in the development and commercialization of medical devices for cardiovascular treatment."Jorge Sequeira, Managing Director of
CINDE, commented,
“Costa Rica provides the ideal environment for the growth of industry-leading companies such as Shockwave. Our well-integrated supply chain is a competitive advantage for high-tech companies with complex operations looking not only for raw materials, but also for additional contract manufacturing and logistics support. This sophisticated ecosystem is one of the reasons Costa Rica is top exporter of medical devices in the world. Exports of medical devices from Costa Rica reached $5 billion in 2021, and are expected to grow to $6 billion by the end of 2022.” Shockwave is looking to hire technically inclined and engineering-centric individuals with a passion to create medical devices in the areas of process engineering, quality assurance and operations. A key strength of Shockwave is its diverse workforce and shared values to act with purpose, expand boundaries together and generate our destiny. People who are excited to join an innovative and fast-growing company should apply by sending their resume to
careers@shockwavemedical.com.
About Shockwave Medical, Inc.Shockwave Medical is focused on developing and commercializing products intended to transform the way calcified cardiovascular disease is treated. Shockwave Medical aims to establish a new standard of care for the interventional treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease through differentiated and proprietary local delivery of sonic pressure waves for the treatment of calcified plaque, which Shockwave Medical refers to as Intravascular Lithotripsy (IVL). IVL is a minimally invasive, easy-to-use and safe way to significantly improve patient outcomes. To view an animation of the IVL procedure and for more information, visit
www.shockwavemedical.com.
