Penumbra Inc.’s 'resoundingly positive' results from its STORM-PE trial could see current guidelines for anticoagulant use in pulmonary embolism swept away in favor of mechanical thrombectomy. A deluge of favorable comments by experts and analysts followed the presentation during a late-breaking session at Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics, the annual scientific symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, which showed more than 50% improvement in treatment effect from Penumbra’s computer-assisted vacuum thrombectomy system plus anticoagulation compared to anticoagulation alone within two days with no increase in major adverse events.
A late-breaking study presented at the PERT Consortium 2025 Pulmonary Embolism Scientific Symposium in San Diego showed marked clot-burden reduction with no device-related serious adverse events for Imperative Care Inc.’s Symphony thrombectomy system, though other companies have a head start. Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions simultaneously published the study in an article titled “A Prospective Multicenter IDE Study of the Next-Generation Precision Aspiration Thrombectomy System for Intermediate-Risk Pulmonary Embolism: The SYMPHONY-PE Trial.”
Two med-tech companies focused on pulmonary embolism overcame their own blockages to commercialization this week. Inquis Medical Inc.’s Aventus thrombectomy system received U.S. FDA clearance for use in pulmonary embolism, an expanded indication, while Penumbra Inc. completed enrollment in the STORM-PE clinical trial of its Lightning Flash device.
With more than 60 acquisitions completed in the last decade, Stryker Corp. shows little fear in committing to offers that allow it to obtain the companies and technologies that have driven its impressive growth in stock price – up from $92 in Jan. 2015 to $356.70 in Jan. 2025. Still, the definitive agreement to buy Inari Medical Inc. for $4.9 billion comes in at the upper range, along with the $4 billion acquisition of Wright Medical Group NV in 2020 ($5.4 billion with debt included), $3 billion for Vocera Communications in 2022, and $2.8 billion for Sage Products in 2016.
An artificial intelligence algorithm developed at Sheba Medical Center in Israel can identify patients at high risk of pulmonary embolism as soon as they walk through the hospital doors, a study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found. Using only information available from the patient’s medical history, the machine learning tool flagged high-risk patients before the initial clinical checkup occurred.
Avicenna.AI SAS received clearance from the U.S. FDA for two of its artificial intelligence (AI)-based solutions, Cina-Ipe and Cina-Aspects, which provide for the detection of pulmonary embolism (PE) and the assessment of stroke severity in CT scans, respectively.
The U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is not utterly opposed to the use of mechanical thrombectomy as a treatment for pulmonary embolism, but the agency believes that the outcomes data for high-risk patients are lacking.
The U.S. FDA cleared respiratory imaging technology company 4dmedical Ltd.’s computed tomography lung ventilation analysis software (CT LVAS) that is nearly identical to its X-ray velocimetry technology but uses CT imaging and provides greater access to the four-dimensional imaging technology.
An analysis of real-world data pulled from Truveta’s electronic health records of 30 U.S. health care systems found that patients treated for pulmonary embolism (PE) using Boston Scientific Corp.’s Ekos endovascular system had lower rates of adverse events, particularly intracerebral hemorrhage, than those treated with Inari Medical Inc.’s Flowtriever system.
After a long and bumpy path to approval, the U.S. FDA has finally given the green light to Cyclopharm Ltd’s Technegas combination product a day after the Sept. 29 PDUFA date.