Medical device start-ups, borrowing a playbook from cardiology, over the past decade have introduced an “interventionalization” of the ear, nose, and throat specialty. Acclarent Inc. burst onto the scene six years ago with the first interventional attempt to alleviate chronic sinusitis, the painful inflammation of the sinus cavities usually treated by medicines or painful endoscopic sinus surgery. Acclarent, of course, introduced Balloon Sinuplasty, providing otolaryngologists with an effective middle step between medication and serious surgery to treat chronic sinusitis in the frontal, sphenoid, and maxillary sinuses. (SeeAlso see "Acclarent: Can Balloons Open Sinuses and the ENT Device Market?" - In Vivo, 1 January, 2006..) Rather than remove the tissue, Acclarent’s balloons pushed open the nasal passageways. Acclarent established a $100 million per year business before being acquired by Johnson &Johnson’s Ethicon Inc. for $785 million, a sum that enriched its venture investors and energized the entire device industry. [See Deal] Fast follower Entellus Medical Inc. is advancing Acclarent’s approach of using balloons to open up nasal passageways by creating a line of tools that enabled physicians to perform the procedure in-office rather than just in the interventional suite. The company is currently building its business and hoping for an ultimate outcome similar to Acclarent’s. (SeeAlso see "Entellus: Helping The Interventional Revolution Balloon In Sinus Therapy" - In Vivo, 1 June, 2011..)
In blazing a trail for medical device start-ups, Acclarent and Entellus established relationships within the ENT specialty, creating an avenue...