St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) today touted the 1st U.S. commercial implantations for its Quadra Assura MP cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator, featuring its MultiPoint pacing technology.
The MultiPoint tech is the 1st to hit the U.S. market that allows physicians to tailor pacing therapy by controlling multiple pulses to the left ventricle for each heartbeat. Each lead in the system can deliver 2 pulses per heartbeat, St. Jude said.
Last month the Little Canada, Minn.-based company won CE Mark approval in the European Union for 3 new Quartet left ventricular leads; in February, St. Jude said the FDA approved the MultiPoint technology for the Quadra Assura devices, plus a new set of quadripolar pacing leads called Quartet LV. St. Jude 1st won CE Mark approval for the Quadra Assura in June 2013; a CE Mark for MRI-conditional labeling followed in December 2015.
“St. Jude Medical developed and established a new standard of care for CRT with quadripolar pacing. We are excited to bring the next-generation MultiPoint Pacing technology to market, giving physicians additional options to improve patient response,” chief medical officer Dr. Mark Carlson said in prepared remarks.
“We are now able to offer St. Jude Medical’s new MultiPoint Pacing technology for our patients whose heart failure condition is difficult to manage. It is important for us to have this option to individualize patient care and help improve response to therapy,” added Dr. Neal Lippman of Hartford’s St. Francis Hospital, where the 1st Quadra Assura MP procedures took place.
