To all:
Thursday March 13 8:09 PM EST
Medtronic( Medtronic Inc )brain stimulator to face FDA panel
NEW YORK, March 13 (Reuter) - Medtronic Inc's deep brain stimulator to treat tremor caused by Parkinson's disease,
could offer an exciting opportunities for the company longer term since there were few effective therapies to fight the
disease, analysts said.
The implantable neurostimulator product was set for U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel review Friday and would
likely get a favorable recommendation on its ability to treat tremor due to Parkinson's and essential tremor, analysts said.
"But the product will not have an overnight impact on the company because after approval, there are still reimbursement
issues," Charlene Lu, an analyst at Prudential Securities, said. "Plus, Parkinson's is an elderly Medicare population."
Other analysts said Medtronic was more dependent on its core pacemaker and implantable defibrillator business than on its
neurostimulation division.
But Samuel Navarro, an analyst at UBS Securities, said the stimulators were one of the company's three key new products.
"The Itrel II is one of Medtronic's three major product launches in the next year in the United States," he said. "The others
are the and the AneuRx stent-graft systems."
Itrel II is an implantable pulse generator used in the deep-brain stimulation therapy.
Medtronic said its neurostimulation business saw 20 percent growth this past year.
Navarro also said there was more visibility on this product's FDA approval timeline. |
