Medtronic drug-coated balloon receives FDA approval for treating peripheral artery disease in upper leg

Medtronic announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the company's IN.PACT Admiral drug-coated balloon (DCB) for the interventional treatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD) in the upper leg, a serious and common cardiovascular condition that causes pain in the legs and is known to be associated with a four- to five-fold increase in risk for heart attack and stroke.

The IN.PACT Admiral DCB offers patients a new therapy option that has demonstrated the best clinical outcomes ever reported for this disease state and has been proven to reduce the need for costly repeat procedures that are commonly associated with other available interventional therapies.

The IN.PACT Admiral DCB is designed to reopen arteries located in the upper leg, specifically the superficial femoral and popliteal arteries, when they have been narrowed or blocked by plaque. Once deployed in the artery, the balloon delivers a proven, safe and effective dose of the anti-restenotic drug paclitaxel to the artery walls. The drug aims to prevent the artery from narrowing again by minimizing scar tissue formation.

"The introduction of drug-coated balloons represents a significant breakthrough that might establish a new standard of care with its potential to change the way we treat peripheral artery disease in the leg," according to Dr. Michael R. Jaff, Paul and Phyllis Fireman Chair in Vascular Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

The exceptionally positive clinical data from the pivotal IN.PACT SFA Trial, which compared treatment with the IN.PACT Admiral DCB to standard balloon angioplasty, has been approved by the FDA without the use of an independent advisory panel.

By reducing the need for repeat procedures, the new device is also proving to be economically attractive. Results from an interim economic analysis of the IN.PACT SFA Trial revealed that treatment with the IN.PACT Admiral DCB is cost-effective compared to balloon angioplasty from discharge through one-year of follow-up, indicating the potential to lower overall healthcare costs over the longer term.

The IN.PACT Admiral DCB received the CE (Conformité Européene) mark in 2009 and has been widely adopted by European physicians, leading the market with nearly 100,000 patients treated.