Boston Scientific Buys into Intracranial Stent Technology

In a transaction that will complement the company's own products for treating brain aneurysms, Boston Scientific Corp. (Natick, MA, USA) has acquired Smart Therapeutics, Inc. (San Leandro, CA, USA), a company focused on self-expanding stent technologies for intracranial therapies. Terms were not disclosed.

Smart Therapeutics has developed the Neuroform Microdelivery stent, an ultra-thin, self-expanding nitinol stent delivered through a microcatheter and designed to bridge the opening of wide neck aneurysms. Wide neck aneurysms are among the most difficult to treat. Combined with the GDC coil of Boston Scientific, the Neuroform stent will allow doctors to treat a broader range of aneurysms less invasively, says Boston Scientific. Otherwise, patients would need metal clips placed on the aneurysym during an open surgical procedure. The stent system has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a humanitarian use device (HUD).

The first US use of the Neuroform stent was at Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX, USA) to treat three patients with wide neck intracranial aneurysms. "All three patients are doing wonderfully,” said Michael Mawad, M.D., chairman of the radiology department at Baylor. "We would not have been able to treat these cases without this device.”


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