Medtronic’s novel hypertension device fails in trials

(Reuters) – Medtronic Inc’s experimental device to treat high blood pressure failed to meet its main goal in a clinical trial, sending the company’s shares down nearly 5 percent. The device, known as renal denervation system, is aimed at high blood pressure-patients who are resistant to traditional drug therapies and works by deadening nerves in kidneys. “The impact of this news on Medtronic should be modest as we only model worldwide revenues (from the device) of … 1.2 percent of total company sales in 2018,” Wells Fargo Securities analyst Larry Biegelsen wrote in a note. However, despite meeting its main safety goal in the trial, Medtronic said it would halt ongoing trials of the device in the United States, Japan and India.