Healthcare Industry News: Orqis Medical
News Release - October 20, 2006
Orqis Medical Corporation Announces Novel Heart Failure Devices to Be Highlighted at Annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) Meeting
Analyst Meeting to Be Held During ConferenceLAKE FOREST, Calif., Oct. 20 (HSMN NewsFeed) -- Orqis® Medical Corporation, a privately-held, clinical-stage company developing devices for the treatment of acutely decompensated and chronic heart failure, announced today that Marvin A. Konstam, MD, Chief of Cardiology at New England Medical Center and the company's medical director, will present insights on Orqis Medical devices at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2006 meeting in Washington next week.
The presentation, "Orqis: Potential Physiologic and Clinical Impact of CAFA (Continuous Aortic Flow Augmentation)" will take place at 8:45 a.m. on Tuesday, October 24, during the "Interventional Heart Failure: Recent Developments and New Directions" session in room 145 of the Washington Convention Center.
Dr. Konstam will present results from the company's clinical feasibility study of its percutaneous Cancion® System, which demonstrated that use of the device created significant improvements in hemodynamics and beneficial trends in renal function in patients with acutely decompensated heart failure.
The physiological benefits observed in the study, including positive changes in vascular, renal and cardiac indicators, collectively known as the "Orqis Effect," were generally realized within 24 hours. The company is nearly halfway through patient enrollment of its pivotal MOMENTUM Trial, which is designed to evaluate these potential benefits. More than 100 patients have been treated to date with the Cancion system which is commercially available in select international markets.
Dr. Konstam will also highlight recent progress on the implantable Exeleras® System, which utilizes an implantable pump about the size of an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD). Orqis Medical plans to begin first-in-man trials of Exeleras next year in patients with mid- to late-stage heart failure.
Both the Cancion and Exeleras Systems are based on the company's platform technology, which provides continuous aortic flow augmentation (CAFA) by moving blood from an iliac or femoral artery to the descending aorta.
"While certain patients respond well to drug therapy and ICD treatment, there is still an urgent need for novel therapies to reduce morbidity and mortality and improve clinical outcomes in patients with mid- to late-stage heart failure," said Dr. Konstam. "By addressing the causes of underlying disease progression more directly and offering the potential for symptomatic relief, we believe the CAFA-based approach could represent an important advance across a broad spectrum of heart failure, a disease that represents a major, world-wide healthcare problem."
Orqis Medical is also hosting a meeting for financial analysts, during which Orqis Medical's Chief Executive Officer, Ken Charhut, and Dr. Konstam will provide an overview of the company's development progress and clinical and pre-clinical data collected to date with its devices. For more information on the company and its development programs, those interested can visit Orqis Medical's exhibit booth #149 during the meeting.
About Heart Failure
Almost 5 million Americans -- and 14 million worldwide -- suffer from heart failure, a condition in which the heart becomes weakened and cannot pump blood efficiently. Heart failure is caused by coronary artery disease, past myocardial infarctions and other underlying cardiovascular disorders, and it is characterized by shortness of breath, wheezing and edema. Improved therapies are crucial to advancing heart failure treatment, a disease that causes more than one million of hospitalizations each year and costs the U.S. healthcare system alone more than $29 billion annually.
About Orqis Medical Corporation
Orqis® Medical Corporation is a privately held, clinical-stage medical device company seeking to redefine heart failure therapy by developing products that prevent or reverse underlying disease progression and provide new treatment options to the clinical community to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.
The company's percutaneous Cancion® System, for the treatment of acutely decompensated heart failure, is CE marked and is currently under an investigational device exemption (IDE) investigation in the United States in the pivotal MOMENTUM Trial. The company's implantable Exeleras® System, about the size of an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD), is designed to treat mid- to late-stage chronic heart failure patients. First clinical use of this system is planned in 2007. For more information on Orqis Medical, please visit http://www.orqis.com and for the MOMENTUM Trial, please visit: http://www.momentumtrial.com .
NOTE: Orqis, Cancion, and Exeleras are among the trademarks or registered trademarks of Orqis Medical Corporation.
Source: Orqis Medical
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