A Medical Device Daily

Volcano (Rancho Cordova, California), Stanford University (Palo Alto, California), Cardialysis (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) and the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF; New York) reported a collaboration whereby Volcano has agreed to provide intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) catheters free of charge for use in pivotal drug-eluting stent (DES) clinical trials.

The offer will be made available to stent manufacturers using the core lab services of Stanford, Cardialysis or CRF in trials where IVUS images and data are planned to be collected in 100% of patients at enrollment and at pre-determined follow-up periods.

The goal of the collaboration is to provide the stent industry, physicians and patients a more in-depth understanding of the complex phenomenon of stent thrombosis and the most definitive, expeditious answers to questions surrounding the long-term safety of current and next generation DES, the entities said.

In particular, IVUS is designed to precisely visualize late stent mal-apposition (when the coronary vessel grows away from the implanted stent months or years after deployment), which is emerging as a leading suspect in the search for the cause of late stent thrombosis in DES.

Volcano offers a suite of devices designed to facilitate endovascular procedures, enhance the diagnosis of vascular and structural heart diseases and guide optimal therapies. The company's IVUS product line includes ultrasound consoles that can be integrated directly into virtually any modern cath lab and single-use phased array and rotational IVUS imaging catheters.

In other agreements news: Broadlane (Dallas) reported that Continuum Health Partners (New York) will continue its relationship for supply chain services with Broadlane after signing an agreement for an additional five years.

Broadlane will continue to provide Continuum and its five acute care hospitals in New York with a range of sourcing, contracting, data and technology, clinical and purchasing services.

During the first five years of the relationship the two parties worked on more than 550 specific initiatives focused on contracting, inventory and utilization management. Together, those initiatives recorded a number of notable achievements. Among them was the companies reached $69 million in documented recurring annual savings.