Endologix Ventana
http://medtechventures.com/
Medtronic, the global leader in the $2 billion per year fast growing Aortic Endografts Market, where it controls over 36% market share.
Aortic endografts are endovascular stent grafts, tubes composed of fabric supported by a metal mesh stent. They are most commonly used to treat aortic aneurysms in a minimally invasive way.
Historically, the aortic endografts market has been divided along anatomical lines, abdominal and thoracic. Medtronic's Endurant is the global leader in the abdominal sub-segment of the market and its Valiant is the global leader in the thoracic sub-segment of the market.
Approximately 25% of aortic aneurysms are thoraco-abdominal, covering the area between the lower segment of the descending thoracic aorta and the upper segment of the abdominal aorta above the renal artery.
Until recently, this area was declared a no-man's land due to the fact that it contains many vascular branches that feed vital organs like the kidneys, the spinal cord and the intestines. Blocking the blood flow to these vital organs with a covered stent graft causes paralysis, renal failure and sometimes death.
Medtronic has been slow the address this unmet medical need and has no device to brag about under development. However, fast growing Endologix (ELGX) and innovative Cardiatis, have reached some answers.
Endologix has recently developed the Ventana, an off-the-shelf fenestrated stent graft for the juxta-renal aorta which is expected to receive European approval shortly and is already under investigation in the US. And Endologix executives predict a market for the Ventana worth $300 million by 2015.
Cardiatis, a privately owned innovative medical device company, has developed a paradigm shifting off-the-shelf hemodynamic flow modulating aortic endograft that can repair the aneurysm by slowing down the rate of aortic cells death due to the blood pressure exerted on them by the pumping heart.
The device, which has already received European approval, causes zero rate paralysis in the patients treated with it and is currently being submitted for approval in the US.
Talks between Medtronic executives and Cardiatis top brass have been taking place over several years during TCT Meetings in Paris and Veith Symposia in New York, with Medtronic increasingly expressing interest in a stake in Cardiatis.
Talks has intensified somehow lately due to the fact the Endologix’s Ventana is within weeks of obtaining European approval for its device which will give the company a huge first-to-market advantage.
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