Cordis, Medinol tout first commercial implants of Elunir drug-eluting stent in U.S.

Cordis and Medinol announced today that the first commercial uses of the Elunir drug-eluting stent in the U.S. were performed at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and the Piedmont Heart Institute in Atlanta.

The Elunir stent, developed by Medinol and distributed by Cordis, features a metallic spring tip and the narrowest strut width of any stent on the U.S. market, according to the two companies. The device is designed to treat patients with narrowed or blocked coronary arteries.

“Our first patient cases with the Elunir stent went perfectly and we are enthusiastic about the overall performance including the uniform vessel coverage and the delivery system with the metallic spring tip, which is unlike any other product in the market,” Dr. Martin Leon, director of the Center for Interventional Vascular Therapy at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, said in prepared remarks. “I have been following Medinol for over 20 years and am excited to see yet another one of the company’s innovative products launch in the U.S. market.”

“The physicians and staff at Columbia and Piedmont have played pivotal roles in the evolution of the Elunir stent,” Dr. Yoram Richter, chief scientific officer at Medinol, added. “We are honored to have the first commercial cases with Elunir performed at such notable institutions. This event marks another step in Medinol’s legacy, which has continued to stretch the limits of innovation, starting with our NIR stent in 1996.”

In October last year, Cordis and Medinol inked a long-term distribution deal giving Cordis, Cardinal Health‘s (NYSE:CAH) interventional vascular biz, the rights to distribute Medinol’s coronary stent portfolio.

“We are confident that the novel stent and delivery system of the Elunir DES will offer ease of delivery, especially in highly complex cases,” Luis Davila, Cordis’ VP of R&D, added. “Cordis is committed to bringing new technologies, like Elunir, to the market to provide even more treatment options for clinicians and their patients affected by coronary artery disease.”

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