Terumo Medical Corporation announced the first US patient implant in the OSPREY study, which will evaluate the safety and efficacy of its MISAGO peripheral self-expanding stent system for use in the superficial femoral artery (SFA). The procedure was performed at the Bradenton Cardiology Center in Bradenton, Florida.

A unique feature of the OSPREY clinical trial is that it will simultaneously enroll patients in the US and Japan. Referred to as medical device collaborative consultation and review of pre-marketing applications under the larger harmonisation by doing (HBD) initiative, the OSPREY trial was selected as one of two projects to pilot this approach, which is intended to shorten the gap between product approvals in these two significant world healthcare markets. The pilot program is a cooperative effort led by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the MHLW-PMDA (Japan's regulatory bodies), Terumo Corporation based in Tokyo, and Terumo Medical Corporation, a US based subsidiary of Terumo Corporation.

"We are pleased to be the first US center to kick off this exciting international trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the MISAGO Stent System for treating patients with peripheral artery disease," said Srinivas Iyengar, MD, primary operator and site principal investigator for the OSPREY trial. "This is a unique and exciting opportunity for myself and the Bradenton Cardiology Center to be a part of the first international initiative to streamline the regulatory process to facilitate future medical device approvals between countries."

In the US, OSPREY is a single-arm, multi-center, non-randomised prospective clinical trial for the treatment of atherosclerotic stenoses and occlusions of the SFA. In Japan, there are two arms of the study, 50 patients receiving the MISAGO stent system and 50 patients receiving percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA).

The study will include up to 350 patients, a maximum of 250 patients in up to 30 centers in the US and 100 patients in Japan. Japan received regulatory approval to begin the trial last year and has already started to enroll patients.

"Terumo Medical Corporation welcomes the Bradenton Cardiology Center into the OSPREY trial. We are not only grateful that our MISAGO stent system was selected for the harmonisation by doing program, but we feel privileged to be chosen as the first medical device company to embark in this important clinical initiative with two of the world's most preeminent regulatory bodies," said Juichi 'Jim' Takeuchi, president and CEO, Terumo Medical Corporation. "We are proud of the MISAGO stent system as our first PMA medical device and look forward to continuing to enroll patients into the OSPREY trial to bring this innovative peripheral artery disease treatment to the US market."

The MISAGO peripheral self-expanding stent system consists of a nitinol stent pre-mounted on the distal portion of a rapid-exchange delivery catheter system. The stent has three radiopaque markers located on each end of the stent to help ensure accurate placement in the lesion. The unique design distributes the dynamic superficial femoral artery stress loads throughout the stent's struts providing not only flexibility, but also durability against bending, compression, and torsion. The MISAGO stent system features the first rapid-exchange (RX) delivery catheter for use in the SFA.