Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. Announces First In-Human Experience With Coronary Everolimus Drug Coated Balloon

Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. (CSI^®) (NASDAQ: CSII), a medical device company developing and commercializing innovative interventional treatment systems for patients with peripheral and coronary artery disease, announced today the start of enrollment in a first in-human trial of the coronary everolimus drug-coated balloon (DCB) being developed by Chansu Vascular Technologies, LLC (CVT).

The first patient was successfully treated by Dr. Irakli Gogorishvili, Head of the Interventional Cardiology Department, at the Israeli-Georgian Medical Research Clinic Helsicore in Tbilisi, Georgia. The coronary DCB was used to treat in-stent restenosis (ISR) located in the left anterior descending artery.

DCBs are a widely accepted percutaneous interventional treatment option for femoro-popliteal lesions in patients with peripheral artery disease, and are increasingly recognized for their potential in complex coronary artery disease, ISR, small vessels, and bifurcation lesions.

Everolimus, the active drug in CVT’s DCB formulation, acts as a cytostatic agent to reduce tissue hyperplasia and associated restenosis and has a long history of safety and efficacy in coronary drug-eluting stent applications.

Dr. Gogorishvili said, “The crossability and deliverability of the CVT DCB is excellent and I am very excited to participate in this research project evaluating this new class of DCBs.”

Ryan Egeland, MD, PhD, CSI’s Chief Medical Officer, said, “The CVT DCBs are designed to capitalize on the proven long-standing anti-restenotic benefits of everolimus for the treatment of patients with cardiovascular lesions. CVT intends to enroll 50 patients at up to 15 sites in France, Georgia, Lithuania and Spain to support an IDE submission to the FDA and a subsequent U.S. pivotal clinical study.”

Under the terms of the agreements signed with CVT, CSI is providing milestone-based financing to CVT for the development of coronary and peripheral DCBs. Under an acquisition option agreement, upon CVT’s completion of key technical and clinical milestones in the development program, CSI will have exclusive rights and obligations to acquire CVT, subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions set forth in the agreement.

About Cardiovascular Systems, Inc.

Cardiovascular Systems, Inc., based in St. Paul, Minn., is a medical device company focused on developing and commercializing innovative solutions for treating vascular and coronary disease. The company’s orbital atherectomy system treats calcified and fibrotic plaque in arterial vessels throughout the leg and heart and addresses many of the limitations associated with existing surgical, catheter and pharmacological treatment alternatives. For additional information, please visit www.csi360.com and connect on Twitter @csi360.

About Chansu Vascular Technologies, LLC

Chansu Vascular Technologies (CVT) is a company with its principal office located in Sunnyvale, California. CVT was founded by Philippe Marco, MD, with the exclusive purpose to develop peripheral and coronary DCBs using everolimus. Dr. Marco is a 25-year medical technology veteran who has spent his entire career focused on cardiovascular device development. He was President and COO of Epix Therapeutics (acquired by Medtronic), and President and COO at CV Ingenuity (acquired by Covidien), where he was responsible for the development of the Stellarex™ DCB. Dr. Marco started working on drug delivery cardiovascular devices while in charge of Medical Affairs for Abbott Vascular where, following the Perclose Inc. acquisition, he led the franchise expansion into a diversified portfolio from closure devices to drug-coated coronary stents, embolic protection devices, and peripheral catheters and stents.

About Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

CAD is a life-threatening condition and a leading cause of death in men and women globally. CAD occurs when a fatty material called plaque builds up on the walls of arteries that supply blood to the heart. The plaque buildup causes the arteries to harden and narrow (atherosclerosis), reducing blood flow. The risk of CAD increases if a person has one or more of the following: high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol levels, diabetes, or family history of early heart disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18.2 million people in the United States have CAD, the most common form of heart disease. Heart disease claims more than 650,000 lives in the United States each year. According to estimates, significant arterial calcium is present in about 30 percent of patients undergoing a PCI. Significant calcium contributes to poor stent delivery, expansion and wall apposition leading to poor outcomes and higher treatment costs in coronary interventions when traditional therapies are used, including a significantly higher occurrence of death and major adverse cardiac events (MACE).

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are provided under the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by that Act. For example, statements in this press release regarding (i) the development of new DCBs; (ii) the benefits of DCBs and everolimus; (iii) clinical studies relating to the DCBs; (iv) the ability of CVT, Dr. Marco and his team to successfully develop the DCBs; (v) future milestone-based financing in CVT; (vi) the future impact of adding DCBs to CSI’s portfolio; and (vii) the potential acquisition of CVT by CSI, are forward-looking statements. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from those projected, including, but not limited to, the ability of CSI and CVT to collaborate on the development of new DCBs; the ability of CVT to meet development milestones; satisfaction of the conditions to CSI’s additional financing obligations; satisfaction of milestones and conditions to CSI’s rights and obligations to acquire CVT; technical challenges; regulatory developments; clinical trial requirements and results; FDA clearances and approvals; the experience of physicians regarding the effectiveness and reliability of products sold by CSI; the reluctance of physicians, hospitals and other organizations to accept new products; the impact of competitive products and pricing; general economic conditions; and other factors detailed from time to time in CSI’s SEC reports, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. CSI encourages you to consider all of these risks, uncertainties and other factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements contained in this release. As a result of these matters, changes in facts, assumptions not being realized or other circumstances, CSI's actual results may differ materially from the expected results discussed in the forward-looking statements contained in this release. The forward-looking statements made in this release are made only as of the date of this release, and CSI undertakes no obligation to update them to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

CSI is a registered trademark of Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. All other trademarks cited herein are owned by their respective owners.

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