Are Rumors of TMR's Death Greatly Exaggerated?
Executive Summary
DIRECT, the first placebo-controlled trial of a laser myocardial revascularization technology, did not prove any benefit from the therapy, an announcement that has stirred a hornet's nest of controversy in the TMR/PMR industry. Laser companies and physicians who perform the procedures have been in damage control mode since the announcement. The event has exacerbated the challenges that laser companies were already facing in the early adoption phase of a new treatment paradigm. PLC Systems and Eclipse Surgical feel confident that their technologies are sufficiently different from that used in the DIRECT trial and are striving to reassure physicians, patients and investors. In its efforts to convince skeptical physicians or those put off by the DIRECT results, PLC is banking on its perfusion data and its positive 5-year results for its surgical TMR approach. Eclipse hopes positive results from its clinical trial will help it get approval for the first interventional approach.
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