Stryker announced Monday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared a clot removal device to treat patients experiencing acute ischemic stroke.
Ischemic strokes are caused by blocked arteries and constitute the overwhelming majority of strokes, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The Trevo Pro Retrieval System performed better than Merci Retrieval, made by Concentric Medical, now part of Stryker, in getting blood flowing back to the brain, which is critical for stroke patients, according to a company news release. The clinical trial that measured the safety and efficacy of the Trevo system also showed that patients treated with it had shorter hospital stays.
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“As we saw with the TREVO 2 data, this technology is helping physicians and patients, and we are very excited to be able to facilitate advances in medical care with game-changing technology like the Trevo Pro Retriever,” said Mark Paul, president of Stryker’s neurovascular division, in a statement.
In its annual shareholder meeting in late April, Curt Hartman, the company’s interim CEO, current chief financial officer and vice president, described stroke as a high-growth segment. He added that the company had entered the complete stroke care market, which it did not play in before, through the $1.5 billion acquisition of the neurovascular business unit of Boston Scientific in 2010 followed by the acquisition of Concentric Medical in August 2011 for $135 million.
“Stroke care is very much in its infancy stages, and the assets that we were able to acquire through the Boston Scientific property and, later, the Concentric acquisition, are two of the market pioneers in this space, and we think will give us long-term growth for many years ahead,” Hartman said, according to Seeking Alpha.
