First United States Commercial Implantations With EluNIR DES Performed

January 11, 2018—Cordis, a Cardinal Health company, and Medinol announced that the first commercial cases using the EluNIR drug-eluting stent (DES) in the United States were performed at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in New York, New York, and the Piedmont Heart Institute in Atlanta, Georgia.

In November 2017, the companies announced that the US Food and Drug Administration approved the EluNIR stent for the treatment of patients with narrowing or blockages to their coronary arteries and is now being distributed to catheterization labs in the United States by Cordis.

In the company's announcement, Martin B. Leon, MD, commented, "Our first patient cases with the EluNIR stent went perfectly and we are enthusiastic about the overall performance including the uniform vessel coverage and the delivery system with the metallic spring tip, which is unlike any other product in the market. I have been following Medinol for over 20 years and am excited to see yet another one of the company’s innovative products launch in the [United States] market.” Dr. Leon is Director of the Center for Interventional Vascular Therapy at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.

Cardinal Health and Medinol entered into a long-term distribution agreement that gives Cordis, Cardinal Health’s interventional vascular business, the rights to sell Medinol’s coronary stent portfolio, which now includes the EluNIR DES and NIRxcell, a cobalt chromium bare-metal stent in the United States.