Medtronic today announced that it has launched its Prevail drug-coated balloon catheter in Europe.

Dublin-based Medtronic designed the Prevail catheter for percutaneous coronary intervention procedures to treat narrowed or blocked coronary arteries in patients with coronary artery disease.

During the procedure, the balloon inflates within the artery as the drug is delivered to the arterial tissue where it can be absorbed. The Prevail drug-coated balloon uses rapid absorption drug paclitaxel to treat de novo lesions, small vessel disease and in-stent restenosis.

“As physicians treat more patients with complex lesions, it is critical to have a drug-coated balloon that is highly deliverable across a variety of vasculatures, and also utilizes a drug that absorbs quickly into the vessel,” Azeem Latin, lead principal investigator on the Prevail study, said in a news release. “The excellent deliverability coupled with a strong safety profile that is backed by clinical evidence makes the Prevail DCB an ideal option for interventional cardiologists using DCB technology to treat their patients.”

The Prevail drug-coated balloon catheter uses Medtronic’s PowerTrac technology to provide two times more push ability than the previous In.Pact Falcon technology with greater control for tortuous anatomies. Its low crossing profile is ideal for exceptional crossability, according to the company.

“The launch of the Prevail DCB not only underscores our global leadership and commitment to interventional cardiologists around the world but also highlights our strong focus on complex PCI,” Jason Weidman, senior VP and president of coronary and renal denervation at Medtronic, said. “We intentionally designed the Prevail DCB to address the challenges posed by smaller, more complex vessels by leveraging our coronary technologies to provide physicians the ability to navigate through tight lesions with greater confidence.”

Prevail is available for use in Europe and is not approved for use in the U.S.