Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Angiotech") announced that its partner Cook Medical, Inc. ("Cook") received approval on November 15, 2012 from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") to market and sell the proprietary Zilver® PTX® drug-eluting peripheral stent, adding the United States to the list of over 50 markets, including the European Union and Japan, where Zilver PTX is approved for sale. Zilver PTX is the first drug-eluting stent indicated for use in peripheral artery disease approved by the FDA.
"We wish to offer our congratulations to Cook Medical on this important milestone in the development and commercialization of Zilver PTX," said Thomas Bailey, President and CEO of Angiotech. "The use of paclitaxel to treat restenosis is Angiotech's founding technology platform, and we are excited to see this technology further developed and commercialized by Cook in a truly novel product for the treatment of peripheral vascular disease."