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Burlington-based medical device startup CorNova Inc. is taking existing stent-related devices and processes and combining them with cutting-edge technologies, such as fiber optics, to get better patient outcomes.
The company is at work on a set of balloon catheters designed to help eliminate cases of stent restenosis, or thrombosis, by helping with stent selection and optimizing the process of implanting the stent, explained Eric Ryan, the company CEO. Its FiberHalo catheters carry a hair-thin fiber wire that provides blood vessel measurement from inside the balloon itself to assist in stent procedures, without a corresponding increase in time, risk or cost.
CorNova claims fiber-optic capability in the stent itself will provide a marked improvement over current procedures, which are done under fluoroscopy, which has low resolution, or by using the more cumbersome intravascular ultrasound medical imaging technology. The addressable market is in the billions of dollars, Ryan estimated. Founded in 2003, the company, so far, has been funded by angels and institutional investors, but Ryan declined to say by how much.
“CorNova is constantly evaluating partnership opportunities,” he said.
The FiberHalo stent deployment catheter uses fiber optics to make measurements that allow physicians to tell if a stent is adequately deployed. If there is an under-expanded portion of the stent, the FiberHalo catheter is capable of locating it. To fix an under-expanded stent, doctors would be able to insert Cornova’s FiberHalo post-dilation catheter, which is also equipped with fiber optics. It identifies the under-expanded area, allowing doctors to inflate the balloon to correct it.
CorNova is also at work on a predilatation FiberHalo catheter, which will be able to detect arterial plaque composition. Relying on known data, this will allow doctors to select the best stent treatment, said Ryan. The company plans to start pre-clinical studies for FiberHalo in 2009, but there are no specific deadlines for when the FiberHalo might hit the market, said Ryan.
The company isn’t alone in this market: Lowell-based startup VasoTech Inc. is at work developing cobalt stents coated in a special inflammatory-free biodegradable polymer.
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