Press Releases and Statements

BIOTRONIK today announces the launch of the latest innovations in guide extension catheters: FlowGuide and Guidion Short. These new devices have been developed to offer enhanced support and to facilitate the delivery of devices during complex vascular interventions. The catheters introduce key elements, such as perfusion holes in the distal shaft of the FlowGuide catheter, and a transradial access and trapping friendly design for both new products. Through our collaboration with IMDS, the FlowGuide and Guidion Short catheters expand BIOTRONIK's portfolio of high-performance devices dedicated

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, we are conscious of the enormous strain that you are all under. We share your concerns about the spread of the virus and the disruption it is causing globally. We are doing what we can to help minimize this disruption and to provide support so that you can focus on the critical task of saving lives. To this end, we would like to inform you of the following:

The US Food and Drug Administration has issued a Safety Communication regarding a family of cybersecurity vulnerabilities known as SweynTooth, which may introduce risks for certain medical devices that use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) wireless communication technology. If exploited, these vulnerabilities can allow unauthorized users to potentially cause a device to stop working, stop it from working correctly and/or bypass security to access certain device functions. The FDA has said it is not aware of any confirmed adverse events related to these vulnerabilities although software to exploit

CardioMessenger devices form an essential part of BIOTRONIK’s remote monitoring system, enabling the secure transmission of critical patient and device data to the treating physician. As the company that pioneered remote monitoring, we have taken cybersecurity design seriously since 2001. It is integrated into our quality management system, all relevant business processes and prioritized at every step of the product life cycle. Our cardiac implants do not accept programming modifications or commands via any form of long-distance communication. By design, it is technically impossible to

On October 1, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Safety Communication regarding a set of cybersecurity vulnerabilities, referred to as “Urgent/11” that — if exploited by a remote attacker — may introduce risks for medical devices and hospital networks. According to the communication: “These vulnerabilities may allow anyone to remotely take control of the medical device and change its function, cause denial of service, or cause information leaks or logical flaws, which may prevent device function.” These vulnerabilities exist in a third-party software component known as IPnet

The work ‘Security Testing of the Pacemaker Ecosystem’ was recently published as a master’s thesis, authored by Mr. Anders Been Wilhelmsen and Mr. Eivind Skjelmo Kristiansen. This publication investigates the state of cybersecurity of BIOTRONIK’s ICS 3000 – a programmer for BIOTRONIK implantable cardiac pacemakers, defibrillators and monitors that is used by healthcare professionals during the implantation procedure and follow-ups. ICS 3000 programmers were distributed between 2001 and 2012. In the publication, the authors report about several cybersecurity weaknesses such as: The central

BIOTRONIK announced today the enrollment of the first patient in the BIOMAG-II trial aiming to evaluate the safety and clinical performance of its new-generation resorbable magnesium scaffold (RMS), Freesolve™, compared to a contemporary drug-eluting stent (DES). "We are delighted to enroll the first patient in the BIOMAG-II trial, which may play a critical role in helping establish resorbable metallic scaffolds as part of clinical practice in the future and I am particularly encouraged by the implantation results of the Freesolve resorbable magnesium scaffold," said Dr. Juan F. Iglesias, HUG

New two-year follow-up data from the BIOMAG-I first-in-human trial confirms a reliable and predictable long-term safety profile for Freesolve™, the third-generation resorbable magnesium scaffold (RMS), establishing it as a true alternative to contemporary drug-eluting stents (DES). The results were presented by Prof. Dr. Michael Haude at the EuroPCR 2024 conference yesterday in Paris. At the 24-month follow-up, the incidence of target lesion failure (TLF) was 3.5% alongside a corresponding 3.5% incidence of target lesion revascularization (TLR) compares favorably with various second-generation

BIOTRONIK announced the presentation of the 12-month results from the BIONETIC-I study this week at LINC 2024. The prospective, international, multicenter single-arm observational study evaluated the treatment of de novo, restenotic or occluded iliac lesions in 160 patients with Rutherford Class 2-6 peripheral artery disease using the Dynetic ®-35 cobalt chromium balloon-expandable stent system. At baseline, 12.5% of enrolled patients had critical limb ischemia, 90% had calcified lesions (30.7% severe calcification), and there was an average of 85.5% stenosis in the target lesion. The primary

BIOTRONIK is pleased to announce the availability of an expanded Maximum Allowed Diameters (MAD) range for the Orsiro® Mission Drug Eluting Stent (DES). Diameters 2.25mm to 3.00mm of the Orsiro Mission DES can now be extended up to 4.0mm, while diameters 3.5mm and 4.0mm can reach up to 5.0mm. This new MAD expansion follows the approvals from CE, FDA, and Health Canada obtained in the past months. This update reflects a global effort for the Orsiro Mission stent technology to match contemporary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI), enabling practitioners to optimize vessel apposition and

The Department of Homeland Security and the US FDA have issued a Medical Advisory and Safety Communication respectively describing two types of cybersecurity vulnerabilities affecting multiple Medtronic devices that utilize the Conexus telemetry protocol. BIOTRONIK utilizes substantially different protocols for both the clinical and the home environment. Moreover, by design, the remote communication system via BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring® does not have the functionality to transmit or alter therapeutic commands to the implant.

On October 11, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Safety Communication regarding cybersecurity updates affecting Medtronic implantable cardiac device programmers, based on an NCCIC Advisory. 1 According to the FDA’s communication, Medtronic is issuing a software update to address a safety risk caused by cybersecurity vulnerabilities associated with the internet connection in two models of programmers used to download software from the manufacturer’s software distribution network (SDN). Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities would allow an adversary to influence this