About Vascular Magnetics

Vascular Magnetics is developing therapeutic products based on the magnetic targeting of drug-loaded biodegradable particles. The company's first product in development is a treatment for peripheral artery disease that is designed to target anti-restenotic drugs specifically to diseased arterial sites and deliver doses not achievable with a drug eluting stent. The company's approach, called Vascular Magnetic Intervention (VMI), combines a magnetic targeting catheter, and external magnetic device, along with drug-loaded biodegradable particles. Peripheral artery disease is a growing chronic condition characterized by obstruction of the arteries in the legs. Intermittent claudication (crippling leg pain) is the most common and debilitating symptom of PAD. PAD can progress to compromise the blood supply to the affected leg, resulting in diminished function and quality of life, gangrene and subsequent amputation. All PAD patients have a higher risk of strokes and heart attacks. Risk factors for the condition include diabetes, elevated cholesterol, and hypertension. Current treatments, including angioplasty, grafts, stents and drug eluting stents are not particularly effective, with restenosis occurring at an annual rate of 20-40 percent. PAD-related costs, including amputation and amputation-related deaths, are estimated at up to $290 billion per year in the US alone.