• More than 20 million people in the U.S. are living with peripheral artery disease (PAD) yet there have been limited treatment options
• The first-of-its-kind Esprit™ BTK Everolimus Eluting Resorbable Scaffold dissolves over time after it has opened blocked arteries below the knee (BTK)
• The Esprit BTK System is a dissolving stent that offers the possibility of better outcomes for people with the most severe form of PAD

ABBOTT PARK, Ill., April 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Abbott (NYSE: ABT) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Esprit™ BTK Everolimus Eluting Resorbable Scaffold System (Esprit BTK System), a breakthrough innovation for people with chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) below-the-knee (BTK). The Esprit BTK System is designed to keep arteries open and deliver a drug (Everolimus) to support vessel healing prior to completely dissolving.

Until today, there were no stents or drug-coated balloons approved for use below the knee in the U.S. The standard of care has been balloon angioplasty, which relies on a small balloon delivered via a catheter to the blockage to compress it against the arterial wall, opening the vessel and restoring blood flow. However, blockages treated only with balloon angioplasty have poor short- and long-term results, and in many instances the vessels become blocked again, requiring additional treatment.

The Esprit BTK System is a first-of-its-kind dissolvable stent and is comprised of material similar to dissolving sutures. The device is implanted during a catheter-based minimally invasive…