Dive Brief:

  • Medtronic said Tuesday that it has struck a distribution agreement for a back pain treatment made by Merit Medical.
  • The agreement is focused on a basivertebral nerve ablation system to target chronic vertebrogenic lower back pain, a type of low back pain caused by damage to the vertebral endplates.
  • Medtronic plans to make the system, called ViaVerte, available this year. The company expects the minimally invasive treatment to round out its pain treatment offerings.

Basivertebral nerve ablation, or BVNA, is a minimally invasive procedure that targets nerves in the vertebrae to disrupt pain signals. The procedure can be done in an outpatient setting.

Medtronic said Merit’s ViaVerte device is the only BVNA system with a mechanism that can be steered by physicians to precisely target the nerves causing back pain.

Medtronic expects the agreement to add to its portfolio of pain therapies. Currently, Medtronic offers spinal cord stimulation, vertebral augmentation, nerve ablation, bone tumor ablation and targeted drug delivery to treat pain.

The latest agreement builds on past partnerships between the two companies. Merit also supplies Medtronic with inflation syringes used in balloon kyphoplasty procedures and steerable balloon catheters for treating vertebral compression fractures.