Data Confirms Uptake Medical’s InterVapor Significantly Improves Lung Function in Severe Emphysema Patients

-- Results Exceed ATS/ERS Standards for Clinically Meaningful Improvement After InterVapor Bronchoscopic Lung Volume Reduction Technology --

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Medical technology innovator Uptake Medical announced today that patients with severe emphysema who underwent bronchoscopic lung volume reduction performed with the company’s InterVapor® targeted therapy experienced statistically significant and clinically meaningful benefits in both lung function and quality of life, according to data presented by Prof Dr Med Ralf Eberhardt, an interventional pulmonologist of the Thoraxklinik in Heidelberg, Germany at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) annual meeting in Amsterdam.

“The STEP-UP results affirm InterVapor’s safety and effectiveness and represent an important milestone in bronchoscopic intervention. For the first time, we have the option to safely treat patients’ most diseased segments and preserve the less diseased segments, while enhancing both their lung function and quality of life.”

Prof Eberhardt, an investigator in the STEP-UP clinical study -- a randomized, controlled, multi-center, multi-national trial that involved patients from 13 centers located in Europe and Australia -- reported that InterVapor patients’ FEV1 (lung function) improved 14.7 percent at the six-month mark, while their health-related quality of life (St. George’s Respiratory Quotient or SGRQ-C), showed a 9.7 point improvement. Both of these metrics were statistically significant and exceeded ATS/ERS standards for clinically meaningful improvement.

The STEP-UP study was designed to evaluate the safety and performance of the InterVapor system in addition to the optimal medical standard therapy in improving lung performance and quality of life of patients with severe emphysema. The InterVapor system uses heated water vapor to achieve bronchoscopic lung volume reduction in patients with heterogeneous upper lobe emphysema, and was developed by the privately held Uptake Medical. The system recently received Conformité Européene (CE) Mark, allowing commercial sale in Europe.

According to Prof Felix Herth, interventional pulmonologist of the Thoraxklinik and co-principal investigator of the STEP-UP study, “The STEP-UP results affirm InterVapor’s safety and effectiveness and represent an important milestone in bronchoscopic intervention. For the first time, we have the option to safely treat patients’ most diseased segments and preserve the less diseased segments, while enhancing both their lung function and quality of life.”

Professor Greg Snell, STEP-UP co-principal investigator from The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, said, “The gradual natural process of volume reduction that occurs as a result of InterVapor resulted in no pneumothorax in patients 30 days post-treatment. And, since InterVapor requires no implant, patients’ risk of long-term complications is also eliminated. InterVapor is a safe, simple procedure that offers an option to treat severe emphysema patients over time as their disease progresses.”

“Uptake Medical is pleased with these promising clinical results, which show that InterVapor plays an important role in offering progressive treatment options for emphysema patients. The technology has now been proven in a randomized clinical trial to improve patients’ lung function and quality of life during the natural progression of this debilitating disease,” said King Nelson, president and CEO of Uptake Medical.

About InterVapor and Uptake Medical

Uptake Medical is a privately held company focused on the treatment of lung cancer and emphysema without the risks of surgery and implants or the toxicity of radiation. InterVapor, Uptake’s proprietary targeted vapor ablation technology that received CE Mark approval in 2015, applies energy with heated water vapor via a standard bronchoscope to the lungs. In the 15-minute procedure, lung tissue ablation is performed on the more diseased lung segments. The healthier segments are preserved to provide lung function and quality of life improvements in emphysema patients and to provide potential future targets as the disease inevitably progresses.

The InterVapor platform is now being tested and validated as a possible treatment for lung cancer tumors in a first-in-human study of regional lung tumor ablation in patients with early stage lung cancer and lung metastases. The outside-in bronchoscopic approach eliminates the need for percutaneous access or the need to pierce the tumor in a 10-second ablation during a 15-minute procedure. Founded in 2005, Uptake Medical is located in Tustin, California.