NanoInterventions, a St. Paul, Minnesota company, has developed tiny vascular stent technology that replicates the environment of atherosclerotic vessels, to be used on mouse models to test drug-coated stents. According to Minneapolis Star Tribune, the company has just been created through efforts of two Minnesota startups–Nanocopoeia of St. Paul and the Integra Group of Brooklyn Park–who hope to jointly speed the development of drug-coated stents and other related technologies.
From the press release:
Coinciding with the BIO International Convention held in San Diego CA, NanoInterventions introduces the “Mouse Stent Model” for rapid screening of new coronary stent therapeutics. The model, complete with a mini-stent of spectacularly small size and its ability to replicate the human diseased vessel, represents a new starting point in the development of next-generation drug-eluting coronary stents…
The Mouse Stent Model is a fast, predictive model of how a new therapeutic will affect the diseased human artery when implanted as part of a drug-eluting stent. This high-throughput system provides the ideal method to screen therapeutic leads advancing from pharmaceutical and biotech companies as well as university laboratories. Many of these have not had ready access to the specialized tools or expertise needed to evaluate the potential value of their leads for interventional cardiology applications.
The market release coincides with BIO, because the biotech and pharmaceutical companies participating in the international meeting this week in San Diego, CA represent ideal users of the new testing model. NanoInterventions can assist BIO community stakeholders assess the potential value of their therapeutic discoveries for device-delivered treatments and chart a path for further development, thereby enhancing the value of their intellectual property and creating a justification for the later, more costly development program required to advance a cardiovascular combination device toward regulatory approval — and potentially licensing rights to or selling the newly enhanced asset.
Full story at Star Tribune: 2 Minnesota firms team up on stent tests…
Press release: NanoInterventions Launches New, Rapid Testing System for Coronary Stents …
NanoInterventions technology page…