According to a press release, Cryolife has entered into strategic distribution and credit facility agreements with Endospan. Under the terms of the agreement, CryoLife will have exclusive European distribution rights to Nexus, the first off-the-shelf endovascular stent graft system approved for the repair of both aneurysms and dissections in the aortic arch.
CryoLife will pay a total upfront payment of US$10 million. Additionally, CryoLife will provide up to US$15 million in debt financing to Endospan subject to progress on the US clinical development program for the Nexus Stent Graft System.
Minimally invasive techniques are standard-of-care for treating descending aortic disease and heart disease, but highly invasive, high-mortality open surgery is still being used in the difficult-to-treat aortic arch anatomy. The Nexus Stent Graft System is uniquely engineered to address this significant area of unmet and underserved clinical need. The European market for the treatment of aortic arch disease including aneurysms and dissections is approximately US$150 million annually.
Nicolas Doll, Sana Cardiac Surgery, Stuttgart, Germany, commented, “NEXUS is a highly differentiated stent graft system that allows physicians to repair aneurysms and dissections in the aortic arch through an endovascular approach. NEXUS is especially important for elderly patients who are not suited for open surgery, and for patients with a prior Type A dissection that was repaired in an open surgical approach.”
