The 2022 Vascular Interventional Advances (VIVA) medical meeting, which concluded on Nov. 3 in Las Vegas, focused on advances in interventional cardiology and devices to improve vascular health with the expected studies comparing drug-eluting balloons, new stents and less invasive procedures. One Boston Scientific Corp. presentation put the rest into context, however, with one of the most critical advances in cardiology, enrollment in the Drug-Eluting Registry: Real World Treatment of Lesions in the Peripheral Vasculature (ELEGANCE) registry.
Lepu Medical Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd. received marketing approval from China’s NMPA for its peripheral cutting balloon to treat peripheral arterial disease.
Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is an established method for gaining an appreciation of the sources of closure of the coronary arteries, but its use in the peripheral vasculature is not quite as well established. Nonetheless a new paper makes the case that IVUS may be appropriate for widespread use in connection with diseases of the peripheral vasculature, a position that could lead to a considerable expansion of sales of IVUS systems.
After three years of clinical research, Royal Philips NV said its Tack (4-F) endovascular system has shown promising results for arterial dissection repair following balloon angioplasty in patients with critical limb ischemia and infrapopliteal arterial occlusive disease. The data was collected from a 36-month follow-up in the Tack Optimized Balloon Angioplasty (TOBA) II below-the-knee clinical trial.
The days when paclitaxel was the subject of controversy in connection with peripheral artery disease (PAD) seem to be drawing to a close, thanks in part to a new drug-coated balloon (DCB) by Trireme Medical Inc., of Pleasanton, Calif. Trireme’s Chocolate Touch device, a second-generation DCB with paclitaxel as an antiproliferative, fared well against a legacy paclitaxel device, thus opening a new front in the competition in the PAD space and seemingly relieving any concerns about the safety of paclitaxel.
Royal Philips NV has signed an agreement to acquire Vesper Medical Inc., a U.S.-based developer of minimally invasive peripheral vascular devices. The deal expands Philips’s portfolio of technologies for the treatment of deep venous disease. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022. Financial details were not disclosed.
DUBLIN – Sanifit Therapeutics SA has found a taker for its phase III calcification inhibitor for kidney dialysis patients, SNF-472, in the shape of Vifor Pharma AG, which is acquiring the Spanish company outright for €205 million (US$231 million) up front, up to €170 million in potential clinical development, regulatory and market access milestones, as well as undisclosed commercial milestones.
PARIS – M.A. Med Alliance SA (Medalliance), along with its Japanese partner MDK Medical, has completed enrollment following acceptance of a clinical trial notification from the Japanese Pharmaceutical Products and Medical Device Agency (PMDA) in June 2020.
Abbott Laboratories, has acquired Walk Vascular LLC, a deal that brings two devices for peripheral thrombectomy to the Abbott portfolio for peripheral artery disease (PAD). Walk’s two Jeti peripheral thrombectomy devices are cleared in the U.S. for break-up and removal of soft emboli and thrombus, but are in trial for deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) as well, suggesting that Abbott Park, Ill.-based Abbott has availed itself of a technology that could take a big bite out of one of the deadliest and costliest of all circulatory system pathologies.
The controversy over the use of paclitaxel in devices for the peripheral vasculature has taken a significant bite out of sales, but a new study serves to help reverse the narrative regarding mortality. According to a study of more than 168,000 Medicare patients, stents and angioplasty balloons coated with paclitaxel (PTX) were non-inferior to non-coated devices for mortality out to nearly three years, a finding that may encourage clinicians to return to normal utilization patterns and thus help to restore sales volumes.
