Spectranetics Acquires Covidien's Drug-Coated Angioplasty Balloon Platform for $30 million

Spectranetics announced on Nov. 2, 2014 that it reached an agreement to acquire Covidien’s drug-coated angioplasty balloon (DCB) platform, Stellarex, for $30 million. Spectranetics develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes single-use medical devices. Spectranetics would be able to advance the progress the Stellarex team has made during development, said Brian Verrier, president, Peripheral Vascular, Covidien in a press release.

The Stellarex DCB platform is designed to treat peripheral arterial disease with a uniform coating designed to prevent drug loss during transit and facilitate controlled drug delivery to the treatment site. The illuminate first-in-human study included 58 superficial femoral and/or popliteal lesions in 50 patients who were pre-dilated with an uncoated angioplasty balloon, followed by treatment with the Stellarex DCB. Studies found durable results for 24 months in 44 patients.

There are an additional four clinical trials ongoing in the US and internationally to evaluate drug levels in the blood, support PMA in the US, and test groups in a randomized and a non-randomized global trial. Currently, Stellarex DCB is not approved in any market; however, it is anticipated that it will receive European CE mark approval in late 2014 or early 2015.