Cook in StoneBreaker deal with LMA
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
In a bid to improve the treatment of urinary stones, Cook Medical has entered a worldwide agreement to market and distribute lithotripter technology developed by endourology specialist LMA Urology. The portable StoneBreaker device is a pneumatic, endoscopic lithotripter designed to fragment urinary stones using high-pressure carbon dioxide to deliver pressure shocks. The deal will see Cook (Bloomington, Indiana) market the StoneBreaker technology alongside its own portfolio of stone management products including catheters, dilation and occlusion balloons, lithotripters and ureteral stents. According to Dr Demetrius Bagley, professor of urology at the Thomas Jefferson University, the StoneBreaker is inexpensive compared to other types of endoscopic lithotripters and “requires no special team to perform the procedure”, unlike competing technologies. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.