ANDOVER AND BURLINGTON, Mass., Oct. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG; AEX: PHIA) andInfraredx, Inc., a medical device company committed to advancing the diagnosis and management of coronary artery disease today announced a non-exclusive resale agreement for Infraredx's TVC Imaging System. Under the terms of the agreement, Philips will sell Infraredx's TVC Imaging System alongside its Allura interventional X-ray systems in North America and Europe, expanding its interventional cardiology portfolio of advanced live image guidance solutions, clinical informatics and interventional tools.
TVC Imaging System Catheter. (PRNewsFoto/Royal Philips) (PRNewsFoto/ROYAL PHILIPS)
TVC Imaging System Catheter. (PRNewsFoto/Royal Philips) (PRNewsFoto/ROYAL PHILIPS)
Imaging System Composite. (PRNewsFoto/Royal Philips) (PRNewsFoto/ROYAL PHILIPS)
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is caused when plaque builds up along the inner walls of the coronary (heart) arteries, causing them to narrow and reduce blood flow to the heart muscle. It can be treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), a catheter-based procedure that is performed in a cath lab under interventional X-ray guidance. Increasingly, additional catheter-based intravascular imaging technologies, such as the TVC Imaging System, are being used to assess the structure and composition of plaques from within the blood vessel, and to guide the interventional treatment for better procedural outcomes.
The TVC Imaging System is a first-in-class intravascular imaging system that integrates near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) lipid core plaque (LCP) detection technology, and enhanced intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging to visualize the presence of plaques, quantify the degree of vessel stenosis (narrowing) and identify plaques prone to rupturing and causing dangerous blockages.
"Our goal is to further improve existing image-guided interventions and therapies and to enable new ones," said Ronald Tabaksblat, general manager, interventional X-ray at Philips Healthcare. "By teaming up with Infraredx to sell the TVC Imaging System, our product portfolio will be enhanced with an innovative intravascular imaging technology that works seamlessly with our interventional X-ray systems for better-informed treatment decisions and real-time therapy monitoring."
"We're pleased to partner with Philips, the leader in interventional X-ray systems, to expand access to our innovative TVC Imaging System among Philips' broad and established customer base in North America and Europe," said Don Southard, president and chief executive officer of Infraredx. "This resale agreement advances our global commercialization strategy by increasing our product's penetration in the cardiac imaging market."
In March of this year, Infraredx and Philips already launched a software solution to enable the integration of the TVC imaging system with Philips' Allura Xper and AlluraClarity interventional X-ray systems. The software enables an easy and quick setup of the TVC imaging system in conjunction with Philips' Allura systems, and it allows clinicians tableside control of the TVC Imaging System using the Allura system controls.
Clinicians can view a TVC composite image, which shows both the near infrared spectroscopy image and the IVUS image, alongside the coronary angiogram (a contrast-enhanced X-ray image of the coronary arteries) on the Philips Allura monitors. The TVC composite image allows for better visualization of lipid core plaques, which are known to cause complications in PCI procedures and suspected of being the principal cause of most heart attacks.
As a global leader in interventional cardiology, Philips offers a comprehensive portfolio of solutions. Philips' AlluraClarity interventional X-ray system with its powerful ClarityIQ technology provides high quality imaging for a comprehensive range of clinical procedures, achieving excellent visibility at low X-ray dose levels for patients of all sizes. AlluraClarity's low X-ray dose settings help clinicians to better manage their patients' and their own exposure to X-ray radiation.
About Royal Philips Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people's lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips posted 2012 sales of EUR 24.8 billion and employs approximately 114,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. The company is a leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as male shaving and grooming and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.
About Infraredx, Inc. Infraredx, Inc. is a privately-funded medical device company dedicated to helping provide practitioners with the information needed for enhanced clinical decision making in treating coronary artery disease. The company is committed to improving the safety and efficacy of coronary stenting and ultimately serving as part of a strategy to prevent initial coronary events.
Through its TVC Imaging System™, Infraredx is changing the way coronary artery disease is diagnosed and treated. The TVC Imaging System is the only intravascular imaging system that enables true vessel characterization through simultaneous structural and compositional imaging data obtained in a single pullback. Founded in 1998, Infraredx is headquartered in Burlington, Mass. For more information, visit www.infraredx.com.
About The TVC Imaging System™ The TVC Imaging System™ is a first-in-class intravascular imaging system that holds the potential to revolutionize the management of coronary artery disease by providing information that is critical for evaluating vessel structure and composition, also known as true vessel characterization. The TVC Imaging System helps interventional cardiologists identify which patients are prone to complications during stenting. The device enables cardiologists to predict peri-procedural heart attacks by assessing not only the degree of stenosis, but also the presence and extent of lipid-rich plaques (LRP).
The device is the only multimodality imaging system to combine both intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Through IVUS technology, the TVC Imaging System provides clear and relevant information about vessel structure, in real time. The TVC Imaging System is the only device available in both the U.S. and Europe for the detection of LCPs. NIRS measurements have been made in over 5,000 patients in over 100 hospitals worldwide.
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