Renal Denervation: A Market in Search of the Right Solution
- DeepQure
- Aug 14
- 3 min read
Earlier this year, Boston Scientific announced its acquisition of SoniVie Ltd, an Israeli firm that had developed a catheter-based ultrasound renal denervation system. Sized at US$540 million, the transaction underscores a growing reality: global medtech leaders are actively looking for innovative solutions to address hypertension, which is the leading risk factor for death worldwide affecting some 1.9 billion adults.
Why is RDN attracting such keen interest?
Most patients can manage high blood pressure with medication, but those with resistant hypertension struggle to keep their blood pressures under control despite multiple drugs and lifestyle changes. RDN offers a procedural approach that targets overactive sympathetic nerves around the renal arteries, potentially lowering the patient’s blood pressure and reducing the need for medication.
The first RDN technology that can treat the majority of these patients safely and effectively will have a strong opportunity for widespread adoption, which explains why the renal denervation market is seeing such active clinical innovation and corporate investment.
The current state of RDN technology
Two catheter-based systems – Medtronic’s Symplicity Spyral and Recor Medical’s Paradise – have obtained regulatory approval so far. Both have demonstrated clinical efficacy, but neither has seen wider adoption to become a standard of care for hypertension.
The reason for this is because the systems face several crucial limitations that are inherent to catheter-based RDN. For one, catheters have limited reach, so such systems will have difficulty in reaching (and denervating) small, branching, and/or accessory renal arteries. Related to this is the variability in renal nerve distribution, which affects catheter-based RDN’s treatment consistency. Finally, there’s the trade-off between efficacy and risk: delivering energy through artery walls forces surgeons to balance more complete denervation against the danger of arterial damage.
Where HyperQure fits in
DeepQure is taking a different path with HyperQure, the world’s first laparoscopic, extravascular RDN system. Instead of delivering energy from inside the artery, HyperQure does so from the outside. This allows the complete circumferential ablation of renal nerves at any point of the renal artery. The benefits of this approach include the ability to deliver consistent results regardless of patients’ anatomies, as well as the ablation of renal nerves that catheter-based devices may not be able to reach.
Early clinical trial results from South Korea have shown promising blood pressure reductions with no adverse events. As a result, clinical trials have now expanded both within South Korea and to the US, with the goal of making this approach available to a broader patient population.
Looking ahead
The RDN market is still in its early stages, and there is room for newer technologies that improve on existing ones, whether in terms of expanding patient eligibility, improving clinical outcomes, and/or enhancing the procedure’s safety profiles. Industry activity, from acquisitions like SoniVie’s to ongoing product development, reflects the recognition of RDN’s potential.
As evidence grows and the technologies around RDN continue to mature, the real opportunity lies in delivering better care to patients who need it most – and that’s where innovation like HyperQure can make a lasting impact.
