Investors Open Wallets for Svelte Stent System

New Providence, NJ-based Svelte Medical Systems appears to have hit on some improvements to drug-eluting coronary stent platforms, and the company is attracting the attention of investors.Svelte's $22 million money-raise, announced Thursday, suggests stents still have some sexiness -- even as questions are raised about their possible overuse.Some physicians have voiced concern that stents are being over-used to treat cardiovascular disease. Supporting that argument is a recent study published in The Lancet, which reports that diabetic patients who receive coronary bypass surgery have better outcomes compared to those treated with stents.Svelte, though, has managed to raise a total $65 million since it started in 2007, with the latest fundraising round led by CNF Investments and New Science Ventures on top of previous investors. The new infusion of cash will fund research, an expansion of Svelte operations and preparations for a planned 2015 European commercial launch of the company's drug-eluting coronary stent Integrated Delivery System (IDS) and Rapid-Exchange (RX) platforms.So what makes Svelte so special? The answer appears to be incremental, but nevertheless attractive, improvements. For example, Svelte's balloons use proprietary Balloon Control Bands which envelop the balloon shoulders to provide a smooth leading edge during delivery and uniform, controlled balloon growth during stent expansion. Designed to facilitate direct stenting, the high-pressure balloon can also be used for multiple post-dilatations, further minimizing procedure time and cost.The drug-coating technology utilizes naturally-occurring amino acids that can be absorbed over about nine months through enzymatic digestion, rather than water-based digestion, avoiding bulk degradation and acidity change, two common causes of inflammation around stents.