The Food and Drug Administration has granted the Breakthrough Device Designation to the Virtue sirolimus-eluting balloon (SEB) for below-the-knee peripheral arterial disease, according to a statement from Orchestra BioMed.
According to the FDA, this designation indicates that the Virtue SEB could provide a “more effective treatment option ... for a life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating disease”; as the release notes, below-the-knee atherosclerosis presents a high rate of amputation and poor survival outcomes but has limited treatment options. The designation leads to expedited development, assessment, and review.
Darren R. Sherman, president, CEO, and cofounder of Orchestra BioMed, noted that the Virtue SEB “has the potential to improve long-term outcomes and reduce periprocedural complications” that can “extend hospital stay and increase cost of treatment.” The system had previously received this designation for coronary in-stent restenosis based upon the 3-year results of the European SABRE trial.