FDA approves stent stunt

MINNEAPOLIS – Sept. 20, 2010 – Delivering another innovation for interventional cardiology, Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT), announced today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the Integrity Coronary Stent System. The new platform for Medtronic’s coronary stents, including the Integrity bare-metal stent, is based on an advance in biomedical engineering called continuous sinusoid technology that enables the exploration of other breakthrough device concepts such as a polymer-free drug-filled stent.

Now available in the United States, the Integrity Coronary Stent System has been shown in bench testing and in blinded in vivo physician assessment studies to be highly deliverable. In this context, deliverability relates to the ability of the device to traverse the patient’s vasculature and reach the narrowed heart artery targeted for treatment.