During Boston Scientific's ($BSX) summer of $3.4 billion discontent, interim CEO Hank Kucheman told FierceMedicalDevices that the company plans to roll out new devices over the next year to turn its flagging cardiac business around. So far, he's kept his word, and now Boston Sci is launching the Emerge coronary catheter in the U.S. market.
Emerge is a pre-dilatation balloon catheter, designed for use in coronary angioplasty and stenting procedures to open arteries blocked by atherosclerosis. Boston Sci says the device is its most versatile offering yet, incorporating the company's Monorail and Over-The-Wire catheter constructions and two shaft options to treat lesions in coronary arteries.
Perhaps most important is the Emerge launch gives Boston Sci's struggling interventional cardiology unit another marketable product. Last quarter's $3.4 billion loss included a 13% drop in interventional cardiology sales, but the company is doing what it can to bolster its offerings.
Earlier this week, Boston Sci launched a new drug-eluting stent and an updated implantable defibrillator lead in Europe, and last week, the company announced its buyout of catheter-maker BridgePoint Medical, absorbing that company's FDA-cleared devices.
Emerge got its CE mark in April and has been available in Europe for a few months, the company said. Coronary artery disease is the leading killer in the United States, causing more than 870,000 deaths a year, according to the American Heart Association.
- read Boston Sci's release