TVA Medical wins innovation award for minimally invasive haemodialysis access system

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TVA Medical has won the 2014 Innovations in Cardiovascular Interventions (ICI) Best Start-Up Innovation Award. The company received the honour for its everlinQ System, a catheter-based technology designed to create haemodialysis access for chronic kidney disease patients in a minimally-invasive procedure.

TVA Medical says that this investigational technique has the potential to revolutionise how patients with chronic kidney failure receive ongoing haemodialysis.

TVA Medical’s everlinQ System was selected as the winner from more than 80 international companies in a peer-reviewed process by a panel of judges, according to three main criteria: the impact on novelty, impact on patient care and business potential. As the winner, TVA Medical has been invited to present its everlinQ System to physicians from around the world at the EuroPCR 2015 meeting in May 2015.

“We developed the endovascular arteriovenous fistula approach after observing suboptimal results with current surgical AV fistulas for renal failure patients,” said William E Cohn, co-founder of TVA Medical, professor of surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, cardiac surgeon and director of the Center for Technology and Innovation at Texas Heart Institute. “Our clinical studies to date show strong promise for a less-invasive approach, and we are gratified to receive this prestigious innovation award.”

The feasibility of the everlinQ System was studied in the FLEX-1 study, a non-randomised, prospective clinical trial. The Novel Endovascular Access Trial (NEAT) clinical study, currently enrolling in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, is further evaluating the performance of the system. everlinQ has not been studied in the USA and has not been approved for commercial use by the US Food and Drug Administration.

“Worldwide more than 2 million patients with chronic kidney failure require a vascular access to enable their connection to life-sustaining dialysis, but currently must undergo an invasive and often unreliable surgical procedure to receive this treatment,” said Adam L Berman, chief executive officer of TVA Medical. “We are committed to continued clinical validation of the everlinQ System, and this ICI award provides substantiation that our technology is disruptive and important for patients.”