Endosense and BIOTRONIK Mark 1,000th Procedure Performed with the TactiCath® Force-Sensing Ablation Catheter

Endosense and BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG have announced that Endosense’s TactiCath[1] contact-force sensing ablation catheter has been used to perform more than one thousand patient cases of atrial fibrillation (AF) in Europe within the last twelve months. The commercial milestone, which coincided with the companies’ presence at the Heart Rhythm Society’s 32nd Annual Scientific Sessions in San Francisco, marks a significant achievement for both organizations. Endosense pioneered the field of contact-force sensing in catheter ablation with the development of its TactiCath catheter and accompanying Tactisys system, the second generation of which were launched in April 2010. BIOTRONIK has built and is continuing to grow the market for the TactiCath as its exclusive distributor in Europe as well as Latin America, Canada, Africa and the Middle East. “The one thousandth patient case is a major landmark for both Endosense and BIOTRONIK, as it is a tangible metric indicating how well and how quickly our novel contact-force sensing technology is being embraced by the electrophysiology community,” said Eric Le Royer, chief executive officer, Endosense. “These achievements are a testament to our solid working partnership and to the value of contact-force sensing for electrophysiologists.” The TactiCath’s commercial success is supported by a continuously growing body of evidence that reinforces the value of force sensing in improving patient outcomes of catheter ablation procedures. Endosense is building upon this data with a range of post-market studies as well as the TOCCASTAR investigational device exemption (IDE) clinical trial, which commenced in January 2011 and is rapidly enrolling patients. The company intends to greatly expand access to contact-force sensing in the electrophysiology lab with an open platform strategy to integrate its technology into a range of 3D mapping systems. [1] Caution: In the United States, the TactiCath is an investigational device. Limited by Federal (or United States) law to investigational use.