Terumo Corporation (Head Office: Shibuya-ku Tokyo; President: Yutaro Shintaku) announced today that it has commenced sales of internally developed Tercross PTA balloon catheters in Europe. Tercross is designed for treating peripheral artery disease including ones below the knee.

PTA (Percutaneous Transluminal Angioplasty)

PTA is a procedure in which a small balloon, having a diameter around 1 mm, is at the end of thin catheter and inflated in the narrowed or occluded lesions of peripheral blood vessels in the arms and legs to restore blood flow. In addition to conventional drug-based treatment and surgery, peripheral intervention with PTA balloon catheters and stents is a minimally invasive therapy for the treatment of patients with peripheral artery disease. Accordingly, its application is expected to further expand.

Features of Tercross®

Tercross employs hydrophilic coating on part of its surface, which increases lubrication when it contacts blood, in order to enhance lesion crossability. Physicians can choose between two types of balloons. One is non-compliant balloon with high pressure resistance, suitable for calcified lesions. Another is flexible semi-compliant balloon designed to enhance crossability in stenotic lesions. Furthermore, to accommodate the long lesions often found below the knee, Terumo offers a lineup of six balloons with different lengths ranging from 20 to 200 millimeters. Terumo also reinforced the catheter shaft with rigid materials in order to improve its pushability.

Aiming for Expanding Peripheral Intervention Business

Over the long term, our unwavering goal is to become a company with a global presence. As an important measure for realizing this objective, Terumo is broadening its product lineup to expand peripheral intervention business. Positioning the sales release of Tercross as a step in this direction, Terumo will continue striving to achieve its long-term goal.

(Notice) Among the information that Terumo discloses, the forward-looking statements including financial projections are based upon our assumptions using information available to us at the time and are not intended to be guarantees of future events or performance. Accordingly, it should be noted that actual results may differ from those forecasts on projections due to various factors. Factors affecting to actual results include, but are not limited to, changes in economic conditions surrounding Terumo, fluctuations of foreign exchange rates, and state of competition. The market share information in this press release is partly derived from our own independent research.