FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Call to action by Surgeon General prompts funding and increased attention to treatment of disease which kills over 100,000 in the U.S. each year.
Pittsburgh, Pa., Sept. 22, 2008 — MEDRAD Interventional/Possis, the new endovascular-focused division of MEDRAD, INC., today announced that it is a sponsor of the ATTRACT trial which will evaluate the long-term benefits of using the company’s AngioJet® Rheolytic™ Thrombectomy System in combination with clot-softening drugs to provide more rapid endovascular treatment of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT).
One of the most dangerous circulatory diseases is also one of the least recognized. In the U.S., as many as 1 million people suffer from the effects of DVT and, according to the U.S. Surgeon General, over 100,000 of these die each year as a result of the disease. Yet public awareness and physicians’ treatment of DVT has not changed significantly in the last 50 years.
DVT occurs when a large blood clot (thrombus) forms in a vein deep in the body. This blockage reduces or stops the flow of blood through the vein. If left untreated, the blockage can cause swelling, pain and eventual damage to the vein and surrounding tissues. In the most critical cases, part of the clot can break away and travel to the lungs, resulting in a Pulmonary Embolism which is the third leading cause of death in cardiovascular disease, behind heart attack and stroke.
Recent efforts by the U.S. Surgeon General and a number of medical associations and patient advocacy groups have focused on raising awareness of DVT, its effects and new treatment options. And now the National Institutes of Health is providing over $8 million in the support of the ATTRACT trial (Acute Venous Thrombosis: Thrombus Removal With Adjunctive Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis) to quantify the benefits of a new, more aggressive treatment approach: rapid pharmacomechanical clot removal. Dr. Suresh Vedantham, M.D., associate professor at the Washington University School of Medicine’s Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology in St. Louis, Mo., leads the study which will include at least 28 U.S. clinical centers and will enroll 692 patients.
A key element of this clot-busting therapy is the AngioJet Rheolytic Thrombectomy System, which is used in a minimally invasive cardiovascular procedure and guided directly to the clot through the patient’s large vessels.
“Traditional therapies have focused on stabilizing the growth of the thrombus (clot) and have done little to actually resolve the blocked circulation,” said Bob Dutcher, president of MEDRAD Interventional/Possis. “Until recently, there was little a physician could do to rapidly restore the blood flow and address the pain and swelling and possible serious complications of DVT,” said Dutcher.
The AngioJet System is the only thrombectomy device currently cleared by the FDA for removing clot from deep veins, and is a treatment that will be used in the ATTRACT trial to rapidly restore circulation to DVT patients.
“New treatments which use a combination of AngioJet thrombectomy and a clot-dissolving medication have shown rapid resolution of symptoms and a reduction in hospitalization time and expense. We expect the ATTRACT trial to verify that the therapy which quickly removes the clot and restores blood flow will have a durable benefit in reducing the long-term damage and debilitation which often results from DVT,” said Dutcher.
Media advisory
Current activity by the Surgeon General’s office and other medical organizations has raised the public’s interest in DVT, a serious health problem.
For a local perspective on what resources are available and how DVT is treated in your area, please contact Jules Fisher at 763-450-8011 to identify those physicians who treat this disease and can further explain the symptoms, its risk factors and treatment options.
About MEDRAD Interventional/Possis
Possis Medical, a pioneer in the field of thrombus removal, has recently merged with MEDRAD, the leader in diagnostic and interventional contrast injection. Together, they have formed MEDRAD Interventional/Possis, a division of MEDRAD, INC., focused on advancing interventional medicine through research, innovation, and customer care. With manufacturing facilities in both Minneapolis, MN and Pittsburgh, PA, MEDRAD Interventional/Possis manufactures and markets segment-leading medical devices such as AngioJet Thrombectomy Systems, MEDRAD Avanta Fluid Management Injector Systems, Mark V ProVis Angiographic Contrast Injectors, FETCH Aspiration Catheters and the SafeSeal ® Hemostasis Patch.
MEDRAD, INC. is an affiliate of Bayer AG. The Bayer Group is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of healthcare, nutrition and high-tech materials. Bayer HealthCare, a subsidiary of Bayer AG, is one of the world’s leading, innovative companies in the healthcare and medical products industry and is based in Leverkusen, Germany. The company combines the global activities of the Animal Health, Consumer Care, Diabetes Care and Pharmaceuticals divisions. The pharmaceuticals business operates under the name Bayer Schering Pharma AG. Bayer HealthCare’s aim is to discover and manufacture products that will improve human and animal health worldwide. Find more information at www.bayerhealthcare.com.
Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements
Certain statements in this press release that are neither reported financial results nor other historical information are forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, statements that are predictions of or indicate future events, trends, plans or objectives. Undue reliance should not be placed on such statements because, by their nature, they are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and can be affected by other factors that could cause actual results and MEDRAD's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. MEDRAD, INC. undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information or future events or circumstances or otherwise.
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