One of this year’s most anticipated product launches will come from an emerging entity in the vein game. Veniti, a company located in St. Louis, Missouri, is poised and ready to stake its claim within the vein device market with a trio of products planned for rollout over the course of the coming months and years.
VEIN Magazine set off to find out more about this upstart, its products and its plans to lead the charge in the fight against venous disease.
From its inception, Veniti, has been touted as a unique company. Founder and CEO Sean Morris credits his background in sales, marketing and business development with former employer and industry contender, AngioDynamics, as a solid foundation for his concept, which he believes allows his company to have a clear advantage over the competition.
The Need for Industry Focus
“During the course of my education and work experience, I realized there was a glaring need for a specific kind of focus in the peripheral device market – a company completely dedicated to the treatment of venous disease. This differentiates us from other major companies that occupy this space.”
The vision for Veniti, according to Morris, is to develop innovative, dedicated technologies to treat venous disease and in doing so, to capitalize on the tremendous potential within the market. Morris points out that at this time, venous disease is being treated with the available vascular devices, but he says “Veniti products are venous-centric by design, unlike any other company currently in this space, and will address venous disease states with devices specifically designed and developed for the hemodynamic and physiological challenges of the venous system. We will meet a need that is not being met.”
The underlying goal: Morris aims to own the venous disease channel through innovative product offerings and an unrelenting focus on venous-only technologies.
“An inefficient venous circulatory system leads to problems like swelling, tissue-breakdown and clots, and can create mechanical problems that have an impact on other bodily structures,” explains Morris. “Venous disease impacts a person’s quality of life and can be life-threatening, as it is associated with medical issues such as deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Every employee at Veniti, including R&D, Clinical, Regulatory, and Sales and Marketing, will be trained to understand venous mechanics and issues related to venous disease and therefore will be focused on building a better knowledge base on how best to treat venous diseases”.
Easy as 1-2-3
With an immediate interest from investors and industry alike, Veniti plans to launch three products focused on the treatment of venous insufficiency, starting with the Veni RF Plus steam ablation system.
“We are confident that our first product will be ready to market in 2012,” shares Morris. “The product will create steam using radio frequency for the treatment of varicose veins. RF-generated steam travels beyond immediate application and our thesis is that this unique application of thermal energy will be able to more effectively treat venous tissue-while decreasing thermal spread. Our research team anticipates that secondary varicosities may also be treated, thereby rendering a more complete outcome and in a singular visit to an interventionalist. We remain very excited about our pre-clinical results, and we plan to play a critical role in how problematic veins are treated in the future.”
Next year, Veniti also plans to join the IVC filter segment, where the company will offer up a product which claims a unique and “game-changing” design, compared to the competitors already in the mix. Morris explains that problems exist with current vena cava filter systems. “Migration and tilting and subsequent fracture of current systems has caused major scrutiny of this segment. The Veniti filter addresses those concerns by offering a unique anchoring system that will allow for immediate migration-free anchoring and a unique design that ensures superior filter centering within the vena cava.”
Veniti’s third product is the highly anticipated venous stent. As first to market with a truly dedicated venous stent, Veniti will have a big advantage in paving the way towards new options in addressing venous obstruction. Morris elaborates, “We believe our stent will be truly unique. In today’s market, there is no such technology that is intended specifically for venous treatment. We are hoping to change that. Prior to designing our very first stent, we spent an entire year interviewing physicians and studying why current arterial stents were not working well in the venous anatomy.
We used this extensive research to build our thesis to develop the unique architecture that has become the Veniti stent today. A vein has different biomechanical properties and a different healing profile than an artery; therefore you cannot expect an arterial stent to work effectively in the venous anatomy.
“Our stent is designed [specifically] to play a role in the treatment of pelvic venous outflow obstruction, Post-Thrombotic Syndrome and Iliac Vein Compression Syndrome. It is engineered and intended for precise placement with a larger diameter, optimal radial strength, flexibility, and a first-of-its- kind bidirectional delivery system, which will provide physicians with a very unique set of delivery options.”
Future Opportunities
What can we expect from Veniti in the future? “As we continue to grow, our staff will always be considering other venous related products that are a good fit for us. A full venous portfolio would include; stents, filters, ablation, clot management, balloons, wires, angiographic catheters and sheaths, compression stockings and sequential compression devices. This continuum is far from mature. There are many solutions that have not been successfully invented.” Morris adds, “We would like physicians to know that we intend to partner with them and build a tremendous amount of intellectual property regarding all things venous. Veniti is dedicated to developing superior devices to treat venous disease.”
