- Fourth version in the series of Turnpike catheters launched for use in complex coronary and peripheral interventions
- Provides lower profile design and increased flexibility for enhanced deliverability in extreme tortuosity MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 22, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vascular Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: VASC ) today announced that it has launched in U.S. and European markets the Turnpike LP, a fourth version of its Turnpike catheters for use in complex coronary and peripheral interventions. Turnpike LP features a lower distal shaft profile and increased flexibility in the distal shaft and tip, design elements that improve the deliverability of the catheter in extremely tortuous vessels.
Vascular Solutions plans the full-scale commercialization of Turnpike LP at its annual world sales meeting to be held the week of January 11. The new LP version will be included in the company’s revenue guidance for 2016, which will be provided in the year-end press release and conference call on January 21, 2016.
“Turnpike LP is the latest embodiment of Vascular Solutions’ commitment to providing a wide range of tools for the most clinically-challenging interventional procedures, building on our very successful launch of three other versions of Turnpike earlier this year,” said Chad Kugler, Vascular Solutions’ Senior Vice President of Research & Development. “Physicians are performing an increasing number of complex interventional procedures, and that development has helped make Turnpike our most successful new product launch since the GuideLiner ® . Several additional products are working their way through our R&D pipeline that will add to the tools physicians use to treat patients with the most complex vascular disease.”
Clinical evaluations of the Turnpike LP have already been conducted at hospitals in Europe and the U.S., with excellent procedural outcomes and physician feedback. Among the physicians who conducted the initial clinical evaluations of Turnpike LP was Dimitri Karmpaliotis, M.D., Director of the Complex Interventional Angioplasty Program at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Karmpaliotis commented after his initial use of the Turnpike LP:
“Complex procedures require highly specialized devices, and Vascular Solutions’ Turnpike LP represents a significant advancement in the ability to traverse smaller caliber and tortuous vessels. The device was used in two cases to cross extremely challenging and friable epicardial collaterals during coronary chronic total occlusion angioplasty. The Turnpike LP performed brilliantly in this case, and I believe it is the only device on the market that would have successfully and safely navigated the anatomy. Due to the device’s lower profile the Turnpike LP was able to advance beyond significant calcification without complications.”
The Turnpike catheters are intended to be used to access discrete regions of the coronary and/or peripheral vasculature. The catheters may be used to facilitate placement or exchange of guidewires and to subselectively infuse/deliver diagnostic and therapeutic agents. All four versions of Turnpike are single-lumen, over-the-wire catheters that are compatible with 0.014” guidewires. The catheters’ shafts are constructed of two polymer layers that encapsulate a braid and a dual-layer coil. The shaft construction is designed to provide superior tracking and advancement over the guidewire. The distal 60cm of each catheter has a hydrophilic coating for smooth advancement.
The standard version of Turnpike, which was launched in January 2015, features a long, flexible, radiopaque distal tip that gradually tapers to a rounded distal edge. The Turnpike Spiral, launched in June, uses the same shaft and tip configuration as the standard version but adds an outer coil attached to the distal 2cm of the shaft, which is useful in procedures in which physicians need additional rotational advancement of the catheter through tortuous anatomy. The Turnpike Gold, also launched in June, uses the same shaft but features a threaded, gold-plated tip designed for rotational advancement in cases in which a 0.014” guidewire has been advanced through a lesion but even the smallest balloon catheter is unable to be delivered over the wire. The new Turnpike LP has a lower profile and increased flexibility compared to the standard Turnpike catheter and is designed for improved trackability, especially in extreme tortuosity.
Developing and bringing to market a wide array of devices for use in complex interventions, one of the fast-growing segments of the vascular therapy market, is an area of major strategic focus for Vascular Solutions. In addition to GuideLiner and Turnpike, the company’s current product offerings for use in the most challenging interventions include the R350 ™ guidewire, designed for retrograde access; the Venture ® catheter, ideal for precise guidewire placement in bifurcations, angulated take-offs, and tortuous anatomy; the Navigation ™ catheter, an accessory device for use with the GuideLiner; the Twin-Pass ® dual access catheter, which allows delivery of a second 0.014” guidewire into a side branch or acute bifurcation or delivery of contrast or medication while maintaining existing wire placement; SuperCross ™ microcatheters, which feature multiple straight- and angled-tip options for wire support and controlled navigation in tortuous anatomies; and the Elite ™ Snares, useful for guidewire manipulation.
About Vascular Solutions
Vascular Solutions, Inc. is an innovative medical device company that focuses on developing unique clinical solutions for coronary and peripheral vascular procedures. The company’s product line consists of more than 90 products and services that are sold to interventional cardiologists, interventional radiologists, electrophysiologists, and vein specialists through its direct U.S. sales force and international independent distributor network.
The information in this press release contains forward-looking statements about Vascular Solutions that involve risks and uncertainties. Those statements include expectations about the company’s 2016 revenues and adjusted earnings and growth rates in revenues and adjusted earnings. Vascular Solutions’ actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Important factors that may cause such differences include those discussed in the company Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 and other recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks associated with the need for adoption of the company’s new products, defense of criminal litigation, exposure to potential shareholder litigation, exposure to intellectual property claims and litigation, significant variability in quarterly results, exposure to possible product liability claims, doing business in international markets, the development of new products by others, the company’s reliance on the development of new products and services, constraints or interruptions in production from key suppliers, breaches or other failures of information technology and communications systems, the availability of third party reimbursement, and actions by government regulatory agencies.
For further information, connect to www.vasc.com .
Contact: Vascular Solutions, Inc. Phil Nalbone, VP-Corp. Dev. PNalbone@vasc.com (763) 656-4371
