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While Los Gatos doesn’t have a lot of world famous companies, it does have many small businesses whose employees are pioneering new technologies. One such company is Pulsar Vascular, which recently applied for FDA approval to sell a medical device that treats brain aneurysms.
Pulsar Vascular moved its headquarters and 27 employees from San Jose to Knowles Drive in Los Gatos in April.
To understand Pulsar Vascular’s flagship product, the PulseRider, it helps to understand that an aneurysm is a defect in the wall of an artery that causes a blood vessel to balloon and sometimes rupture.
A ruptured aneurysm can lead to death, but the PulseRider minimizes blood flow so aneurysms stop expanding.
“The PulseRider holds coils made of platinum that fill the aneurysm and allow it to heal,” CEO Rob Abrams said.
Those coils are finer than a human hair and are inserted via a microcatheter.
“The catheter is inserted into a person’s groin and navigated to the brain,” Abrams said. “It provides an alternative to open surgery.”
Abrams is a bioengineer who is also an operating partner for Sanderling Ventures. “They put me on the management team of companies they support,” he said. “In this case, the original device needed to be redesigned.”
Abrams and his team fielded a redesign that received CE Mark approval for European sales in October 2013.
Abrams stressed that the PulseRider has not been approved by the FDA, but if it is approved he expects business will ramp up.
“A new clean room is being set up now where the devices will be assembled,” he said. “All the manufacturing will be done here.”
Abrams is a 15 year Los Gatos resident who is enjoying a short commute, while his employees are enjoying downtown lunch breaks and biking on the Los Gatos Creek Trail.
Visit pulsarvascular.com for more information.
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The Mercury News
