France-based Stentys has signed an agreement to acquire US-based Cappella Peel Away and its assets relating to a novel stent delivery system for Stentys’s next-generation of self-apposing stents.
The catheter technology will allow the implantation of the self-apposing stent in the same manner as a conventional balloon-expandable type.
In order to release the stent at the desired location, cardiologists inflate a small balloon that splits open the stent-containing sheath.
The technology has been used as part of Cappella’s Sideguard coronary bifurcation stent, which is CE Marked in Europe and has been clinically validated by an extensive number of Sideguard stent implants.
Assets of Cappella Peel Away include a licence agreement on patents related to the new peel away sheath technology for a stent delivery system, technical specifications and drawings, clinical and regulatory documentation and equipment from Cappella.
According to Stentys, Cappella will retain the rights to the peel-away sheath technology for its Sideguard coronary bifurcation stent and for other potential applications including peripheral vascular indications.
Catheter technology will be incorporated into Stentys’s next-generation delivery system for its line of bare metal and drug-eluting stents and expects to start commercialising these in 2015.
Stentys co-founder and chief executive officer Gonzague Issenmann said this is the company’s first strategic acquisition, and it results from its active research efforts, including constant monitoring of the landscape for complementary tools to add to its portfolio.
"We are very excited about the potential for the Cappella Peel Away catheters to offer cardiologists an even friendlier user experience for implantation of our stents and allow more heart attack patients to benefit from Stentys’s Self-Apposing technology," Issenmann said.
Stentys Self-Apposing Stent addresses the stent-sizing dilemma that cardiologists are confronted with when treating heart attack patients or patients with atypical artery anatomy.