OrbusNeich Announces Availability of Next-Generation Sapphire™ II Coronary Dilatation Catheter

HONG KONG, Feb. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- OrbusNeich today announced that the next-generation Sapphire II coronary dilatation catheter is now commercially available, following CE Mark (Conformite Europeenne) approval.

Sapphire II offers an ultra-low crossing profile across a broad range of configurations, including 1.0 mm diameter balloons and 150 cm shaft working length versions.  Sapphire II features a flexible, supple balloon material for slender rewrap; an XD (eXtra Durable) shaft for enhanced pushability and superb kink resistance; proprietary Hydro-X coating for lubricious crossing; and Z-Tip technology resulting in  'Zero' transition between the tip and guidewire for smooth and safe penetration of the tightest of lesions.

"I was impressed by the crossability of Sapphire II through the stent struts in a difficult left main bifurcation procedure," said Dr. Pieter Stella, head of the interventional catheterization laboratory at the University Medical Centre (UMC), Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Al Novak, OrbusNeich's chairman and CEO, said, "Sapphire II offers interventional cardiologists an exciting new technology to address the challenges of tight and complex lesions.  Sapphire II reflects OrbusNeich's continued commitment to the innovation and development of high-performance balloon catheters."

Dr. Toshiya Muramatsu, director of the cardiology department at Saiseikai Yokohamashi Tobu Hospital in Yokohama-City, Japan, added, "The thin tip and new coating applied from the tip to the shaft contribute a great deal to the crossing performance of the Sapphire II. The crossability of Sapphire II can compete just as well, if not better, than any balloon on the market.  I would not hesitate to recommend it for use in any CTO (chronic total occlusion) case."

About OrbusNeich

OrbusNeich is a global company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets innovative medical devices for the treatment of vascular diseases. Current products are the world's first pro-healing stent, the Genous™ Stent, as well as other stents and balloons marketed under the names of Blazer™, R stent, Scoreflex™, Sapphire and Sapphire NC. Development stage products include the Combo™ Bio-engineered Sirolimus Eluting Stent, or Combo Stent, which combines the Genous pro-healing technology for rapid endothelial coverage with an abluminal sirolimus drug elution for the control of neointimal proliferation. OrbusNeich is headquartered in Hong Kong and has operations in Shenzhen, China; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Hoevelaken, The Netherlands; and Tokyo, Japan. OrbusNeich, which has provided medical devices to physicians through its predecessor companies since 1979, supplies products today to interventional cardiologists in more than 60 countries. For more information, visit www.OrbusNeich.com.

SOURCE OrbusNeich