Medtronic announced on 14 April 2015 that it plans to develop a stent graft system for less invasive treatment of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms under an exclusive patent license agreement with South Dakota-based Sanford Health.
A concept for the novel system, which was described in the November 2014 issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery, is currently being studied (NCT02294435) under a physician-sponsored (PS) investigational device exemption (IDE) recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Sanford Health vascular surgeon Patrick Kelly, the physician sponsor of the PS IDE, developed the concept for the system and has since collaborated with Medtronic to manufacture devices based on the concept.
Sanford Health holds the intellectual property covered by the exclusive patent license agreement with Medtronic. Medtronic plans to study the system in collaboration with physicians at several medical centres, including Kelly at Sanford Health, starting in the near future and subsequently to commercialise it after obtaining the required regulatory approvals.
David Pearce, president of Sanford Research, believes this type of translational research is important to his organisation’s mission. “Our culture at Sanford Health and at Sanford Research is one that supports the problem-solving innovation that’s needed to bring medical advancements to market and to patients. Dr Kelly’s ingenuity is providing a treatment option to patients who may not be eligible for any other approach for repairing their aneurysm,” Pearce said.
Kelly added: “Taking the complex and making it simple has long been our goal for the treatment of thoracoabdominal aneurysms. Working with Medtronic could eventually place our solution in the hands of vascular surgeons around the world to help patients facing a life-threatening condition. We hope that this will have a major impact on the treatment of one of the most challenging disease processes to face our specialty.”
“We are very excited to be working with Dr Kelly and Sanford Health to develop a standardised stent graft system to address the clinical challenges of repairing thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms,” said Daveen Chopra, vice president and general manager of the Aortic franchise at Medtronic. “The exclusive patent license agreement that we have entered into with Sanford Health is a further demonstration of how Medtronic collaborates with physicians to foster innovation and develop new therapies that lead to better patient care.”
