Penumbra Initiates CHEETAH-ACS Trial of CAT RX Continuous Aspiration Thrombectomy Catheter

September 16, 2022— Penumbra, Inc. announced it will initiate a randomized controlled trial to evaluate thrombectomy with the company’s CAT RX continuous aspiration thrombectomy catheter plus percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) compared to PCI alone in patients with high thrombus burden presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

The international, multicenter CHEETAH-ACS randomized controlled trial will be led by Principal Investigator Roxana Mehran, MD, who is Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Trials at The Zena and Michael A. Weiner Cardiovascular Institute at The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, New York.

Penumbra announced the CHEETAH-ACS trial at TCT 2022, the 34th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics scientific symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation held September 16-19 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Results from the CHEETAH study were presented last year by National Principal Investigator Jay Mathews, MD, at TCT 2021, the 33rd annual scientific symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation held November 4-6 online and in Orlando, Florida.

James F. Benenati, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Penumbra, commented in the company’s announcement, “The CHEETAH study completed last year showed that Penumbra’s CAT RX is safe and, in patients with high thrombus burden, restores blood flow quickly and effectively. We now plan to obtain stronger evidence with a new randomized controlled trial. Under Dr. Mehran’s leadership, this clinical trial will evaluate how mechanical aspiration thrombectomy compares to today’s standard of care, which may inform future guidelines and help physicians determine the best course of action for treating patients with ACS.”