Shares of Medtronic plc MDT rose 1.4% to eventually close at $77.18 yesterday following the release of the three-year study results of its DURABILITY II trial. The trial demonstrated the proven success of Medtronic’s self-expanding peripheral stent system – EverFlex – in offering sustained patency in the treatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD). The study results have been published in the recent issue of the Catheterization and Cardiovascular Intervention journal.
PAD is a medical condition that causes narrowing of the superficial femoral (SFA) and popliteal arteries, thereby blocking blood flow to the legs. If left untreated, this can cause tissue death and may even entail amputation of the foot or legs, in case of severity.
Medtronic’s EverFlex helps in expanding and reopening the narrowed regions of the SFA and proximal popliteal arteries upto a predetermined diameter. This facilitates normal blood circulation in the legs. This nitinol stent system originally belonged to Covidien, which Medtronic acquired in late Jan 2015.
The DURABILITY II study was aimed at comparing the clinical efficacy of a single-stent treatment using the EverFlex system as against percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) procedure, in the treatment of atherosclerotic SFA and proximal popliteal lesions.
In the resultant outcome, at 3-year follow up, single-stent treatment utilizing EverFlex demonstrated sustained effect in addressing long, complex lesions in the SFA and popliteal arteries, keeping them unobstructed.
While treating long lesions in the SFA and proximal popliteal arteries, physicians face the challenges of restonosis and stent fracture. Remarkably, as per the results of the aforementioned trial, only 0.9% of the enrolled patients suffered from stent fracture, while the rate of freedom from target lesion revascularization (TLR) was 70%.
Management highlights that the study results duly validate the effectiveness of using a single long stent like EverFlex for achieving long-term vessel patency, without compromising the rate of need for reinterventions.
We believe the release of the DURABILITY II results adds yet another milestone to Medtronic’s ever-expanding interventional cardiology portfolio. We expect this development to help expand the company’s shares in the global coronary stent market, which, according to CNBC, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.54% over 2013–2018.
Zacks Rank
Currently, the stock carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked medical products stocks are LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. LMAT, SurModics, Inc. SRDX and Capricor Therapeutics, Inc. CAPR. While LeMaitre and SurModics sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Capricor Therapeutics holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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