July 17, 2024 — BioCardia, Inc., a company focused on cellular and cell-derived therapeutics for the treatment of cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases announced that the Unites States Patent Office has granted Patent No: 12,036,371 titled “Method of Accessing the Left Atrium with a Multi-Directional Steerable Catheter,” with a patent term that will expire in 2035.
The present invention relates to medical methods for transseptal access to the heart using steerable introducers based on the Company’s Morph DNA technology. This additional patent protection for BioCardia’s current and future products in this important existing market enhances shareholder value.
Procedures that leverage transseptal delivery include atrial fibrillation ablation, patent foramen ovale (PFO) and atrial septal defect (ASD) repair, percutaneous mitral valve repair, left atrial appendage closure, and percutaneous left ventricular assist device placement, among others. Worldwide revenue from the transseptal access systems market was $941.3 million in 2022, with the global market estimated to expand at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 7.3%, reaching $2.1 billion by the end of 2033.
Morph DNA designs enable the tensioning elements in the catheter to rotate around the catheter shaft, allowing consistent catheter performance in any direction. The DNA name reflects this design, as these tensioning elements appear as a double helix like that in a strand of DNA. This design is intended to enable smooth navigation and prevent “whip,” when the build-up of mechanical forces in the device causes a catheter to suddenly jump from one orientation to another.
“All of the biotherapeutic interventions we support for treatment of heart failure, refractory angina, and acute myocardial infarction going forward are expected to utilize this same introducer technology platform,” said Peter Altman, PhD, BioCardia’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “This is an elegant solution to a long-standing technical issue. The solution enhances the level of physician control in our procedures, and BioCardia is working to provide or partner this solution for the roughly five hundred thousand transseptal procedures performed in the United States each year, and for other vascular access markets that can benefit from the advantages our patented solution provides.”
For more information: www.biocardia.com