Guerbet, a medical imaging company out of Villepinte, France, this week announced it received CE mark approval for its SeQure and DraKon devices, two microcatheters that facilitate the intra-arterial delivery of therapies and embolic materials to peripheral vessels.
Both SeQure and DraKon were cleared by the FDA last January, according to a release from Guerbet, and have been commercialized on the U.S. market. They’re also registered in Hong Kong, New Zealand and Thailand, with plans to expand to Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Vietnam within the next two years.
SeQure is a reflux control microcatheter that employs flow dynamics to create a fluid barrier designed to deliver more treatment to a target vessel while reducing the risk of non-target embolization. In contrast to a standard microcatheter, SeQure features side slits that allow for the outflow of contrast media, creating a fluid barrier around the microcatheter that reduces microspheres reflux and assists in delivery of therapies to the target vessel.
DraKon doesn’t sport the same side slits as its companion, but Guerbet said it’s essentially the same device sans slits. According to the company, DraKon was designed for interventional radiologists to optimize pushability, flexibility and torqueability.
SeQure and DraKon were both acquired by Guerbet as part of a January 2018 deal with Israeli company Accurate Medical Therapeutics.
“Guerbet is expanding its interventional portfolio with new solutions for interventionalists, to further enhance and secure their embolization cases,” Thomas Bonnefont, vice president of commercial interventional imaging at Guerbet, said in the release. “This new range of microcatheters will allow us to help the interventional radiology community deliver a higher quality of care during image-guided embolization procedures.”
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.