InspireMD Becomes a Supporting Organization in the Growing Stent for Life Initiative

STOCKHOLM, August 30, 2010 /PRNewswire/ --

- The Stent for Life Initiative (SFL) Celebrates its First Year Anniversary as the ESC 2010 Congress in Stockholm, Monday August 30th

InspireMD Ltd., a medical device company engaged in the development and commercialization of MGuard(TM) novel stent systems, is happy to announce that it has joined the Stent for Life Initiative as a supporting organization. The Stent for Life Initiative aims to improve the delivery and patient access to the life saving indications of PCI and thereby reduce the mortality and morbidity of patients suffering from acute coronary syndromes.

InspireMD, Ltd., is a medical device company, that engages in the development and commercialization of MGuard, a novel net protective stent system that is specifically designed to treat thrombus loaded lesions in the cases of acute coronary syndrome, acute myocardial infarction, or saphenous vein grafts. "We are delighted to become part of the SFL initiative," stated Mr. Ofir Paz, CEO at InspireMD. "We are convinced that increasing the use of primary PCI in STEMI patients is the most important advancement in our field today and we focus our efforts on providing the best products and solutions to support this noble initiative."

Stent for Life was initiated one year ago during the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI) General Assembly at the ESC Congress 2009 in Barcelona. The Initiative is a unique European platform for interventional cardiologists, government representatives, industry partners, patient groups and patients to work together and, by shaping the health care systems and medical practices, ensure that the majority of ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients will have an equal access to the life saving indication of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Industry partners, such as InspireMD, sign up because they are willing to actively support the project goals. This support may include participating in defining strategy, as well as providing expertise such as project management, local analysis, patient awareness, promotion, funding and investment planning.

Join the Stent for Life Declaration signature ceremony at ESC 2010. The Stent for Life Initiative will celebrate its first year anniversary at ESC 2010 Congress in Stockholm. The ceremony will take place as a continuation of the EAPCI General Assembly on Monday 30 August, 16:30 - 18:00. Meet the SFL family members to learn about Initiatives' first year achievements

About MGuard(TM) Coronary

MGuard(TM) presents a novel combination of a coronary stent merged with an embolic protection. The embolic protection is comprised of an ultra-thin polymer mesh sleeve that wraps the stent. The MGuard(TM) coronary stent provides permanent embolic protection, without complicating deliverability. MGuard(TM) is CE Mark approved. The MGuard(TM) Coronary's innovative concept has enjoyed an enthusiastic welcome from leading interventional cardiologists around the world.

About InspireMD

InspireMD is an innovative medical device company focusing on the development and commercialization of its proprietary stent system technology, MGuard(TM). The company intends to apply its technology to develop products used in interventional cardiology and other vascular procedures. InspireMD's mission is to utilize its proprietary technology to make its products the industry standard for stents and to provide a superior solution to the key clinical issues of current stenting: restenosis, embolic showers, and late thrombosis. In addition to providing embolic protection and minimizing arterial injury, this promising technology can be an effective and uniform drug delivery mechanism with the help of the novel micron-level net for next generation drug eluting stents. InspireMD intends to pursue applications of this technology both for bare metal and drug eluting stents in coronary, carotid and peripheral artery procedures.

About Stent for Life:

There is indisputable scientific evidence that myocardial revascularization in patients with acute forms of coronary artery disease is life saving; it reduces mortality, rates of non-fatal reinfarction and stroke, as compared to the previous standard of care (pharmacological treatment, including thrombolytic therapy for STEMI).

The Stent for Life Initiative is a unique European platform for interventional cardiologists, government representatives, industry partners, patient groups and patients to work together and, by shaping the health care systems and medical practices, ensure that the majority of STEMI patients will have an equal access to the life saving indication of PCI.

The executive board is: Prof. Petr Widimsky, Co-Chairman; Dr. Jean Fajadet, Co-Chairman; Dr. William Wijns; Prof. Carlo di Mario; Prof. Nicolas Danchin; Prof. Steen D. Kristensen; Dr. Zuzana Kaifoszova; Marielle de la Torre.

The participating organizations are: EAPCI, EuroPCR, the ESC Working Group on Acute Cardiac Care and the National Cardiology Societies and/or National Working Groups for Interventional Cardiology (WGIC)

The current member countries are: Egypt, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Serbia, Spain and Turkey.

The industry partners are: Abbott Vascular, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, Cordis Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly,

IHT-Cordynamics, InspireMD, Medtronic, Philips Healthcare, Terumo Europe and The Medicines Company.

    Contact details:

    http:// www.inspire-md.com

    Jonina Ohayon
    Marketing Director
    [email protected]
    mobile: +972-52-5791120

    http://www.stentforlife.com

    Zuzana Kaifoszova, M.D., MBA
    Stent for Life Initiative Project Manager, Europe
    [email protected]
    Mobile: +420-724-547-303

SOURCE Inspire MD