Boston Scientific to Acquire Stent Manufacturer

In a move to expand its line of stent offerings, Boston Scientific (Natick, MA, USA) has exercised an option to acquire Smart Therapeutics, Inc. (San Leandro, CA, USA). Under the terms of the agreement, Boston Scientific will complete the acquisition when Smart receives certain approvals for its stent system from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). No additional terms were disclosed.

Smart is focused on self-expanding technologies for intracranial therapies. The company has developed an ultra-thin, self-expanding nitinol stent, which is delivered through a microcatheter and is designed to bridge the opening of wide-neck aneurysms. Wide-neck aneurysms are among the most difficult to treat. Early clinical results have demonstrated that wide-neck aneurysms can be successfully treated with this less-invasive procedure rather than with open surgery. The results also indicate that the high degree of flexibility of the Smart procedure allows the stent to access even very tortuous intracranial anatomy.

In the Smart procedure, a doctor places the stent scaffold across the aneurysm neck and then inserts the catheter through a small opening in the stent. Coils are then fed out of the catheter and into the aneurysm sac. After the coils have filled the sac, the catheter is removed. Smart is developing a new stent to treat narrowing of the arteries around the brain and a device that retrieves clots that can cause strokes.

"We are very impressed with Smart's stent system, particularly its ability to navigate difficult anatomies,” said Jim Feenstra, president of Boston Scientific's Target division, which develops products for endovascular and interventional neuroradiology.





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