Abiomed invests $15 million in Shockwave Medical

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The Shockwave Lithotripsy system

A press release reports that Abiomed is to invest US$15 million in Shockwave Medical and the two companies will collaborate on a training and education programme in the USA and Germany focused on the benefits of complementary use of their respective technologies. 

The press release states that Shockwave’s intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) technology employs sonic pressure waves to safely crack vascular calcium within the vessel wall, which enables arteries to expand under low pressure and become more compliant. It adds that Shockwave markets its Shockwave M5 Peripheral Intravascular Lithotripsy Catheter in the USA and Europe, but notes that the Shockwave M5 catheter is increasingly being used in patients with heavily calcified Iliac arteries in order to facilitate the transfemoral delivery of sophisticated devices with catheters, including transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and Abiomed’s Impella. IVL enables this patient group to benefit from these life-saving therapies when they would otherwise be ineligible for the procedure or would be at increased risk for procedural complications. In Europe, Shockwave also markets its coronary catheter—Shockwave C2—which is used to treat severely calcified de novo coronary artery disease. 

Doug Godshall, president and CEO of Shockwave Medical, states: “While we are still early in our commercial scaling both in the US and Europe, I am pleased with how positively our Shockwave technology has been received and how many different types of patients and vessels our customers are able to safely treat with our IVL system. We are delighted to be able offer patients our solution in combination with Abiomed’s Impella technology using a minimally invasive approach, which should meaningfully improve outcomes. With Abiomed’s best-in-class approach to training and education, Shockwave will be able to more efficiently increase awareness and introduce IVL to customers, which we believe will help them better treat their most challenging patients. We are encouraged to see the positive clinical response we have witnessed to date.”


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