Royal Philips<http://www.philips.com/> (NYSE: PHG; AEX: PHIA) and Infraredx, Inc.<http://www.infraredx.com/>, 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.
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.