Boston Scientific: Single-use bronchoscope
Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) expects to launch a single-use bronchoscope, the Exalt Model B, later this year. It’s part of an industry trend away from reusable scopes that can be difficult to clean and may spread dangerous bacteria among patients.
“We’ve seen with studies that come out of the FDA that even when the process is done with oversight and using what is thought to be best practices, one in 20 endoscopes that are thought to be patient ready, actually have a pathogen of concern on them,” Brian Dunkin, MD, CMO of Boston Scientific Endoscopy, said during a DeviceTalks Weekly podcast last year.
Exalt Model B will be part of the company’s single-use imaging portfolio of diagnostic devices, which includes the Exalt Model D single-use duodenoscope, FDA-cleared in 2019, the Spyglass Discover digital catheter (cleared in 2020) and the Spyglass DS direct visualization system (2007 and second-generation, 2015), all for use in gastroenterology procedures.
CEO Michael Mahoney told analysts during a February 2021 earnings call that the company has “no shortage of product launches that we’re launching right now that will impact ’22 as well,” according to a transcript by The Motley Fool.
“We’ll launch the bronchoscope in the second half of 2021, and we believe this will be [a] nice $2 billion market for us,” Mahoney said. “And we think it will follow a very similar path ex-COVID as our urology scope did as well as our SpyGlass scope in endo as well.”
