Zoll Medical, a manufacturer of medical devices and related software solutions, has acquired the assets of CoAxia, a Minnesota-based medical device company that provides catheter-based perfusion augmentation therapies, for undisclosed amount.
The purchase of intellectual property also includes several key patents on cerebral perfusion augmentation as well as numerous other patents important to other various vascular procedures.
The key application for CoAxia’s catheter technology, under the trade names NeuroFlo and FloControl, involves the redistribution of blood flow from the lower extremities to support brain function during ischemia.
These devices provide potential applications in blood flow redistribution for trauma, cardiac arrest, coronary procedures, surgical blood loss, and renal perfusion.
NeuroFlo and FloControl have received regulatory approvals in the US. Additionally, NeuroFlo has received Humanitarian Device Exemption approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in patients with vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage, while FloControl has secured 510(k) clearance for stopping and controlling blood flow in the peripheral vasculature.
The purchase of CoAxia’s intellectual property provides synergy with Zoll’s acute critical care portfolio of products such as temperature management, which may reduce reperfusion injury following ischemia by also using balloon catheters. The use of temperature management in ischemic stroke patients is currently being studied in several clinical trials.
Zoll president James Palazzolo said that the NeuroFlo technology has the potential to address a large portion of the population who suffer cerebral ischemia, offering a significant benefit to patients and the healthcare system.
"Our task is to continue to develop the significant body of clinical evidence started by CoAxia demonstrating the safety and efficacy of the NeuroFlo catheter and, in the end, do what is necessary for it to be a standard treatment option for hundreds of thousands of stroke patients worldwide," Palazzolo added.