TEL AVIV, Israel, October 15 /PRNewswire/ -- InspireMD, Ltd. announced that the MGuard(TM) coronary stent system was celebrated by hundreds of Italy's leading cardiologists at the GISE 24th National Congress of the Italian Society of Invasive Cardiology in Bologna, Italy, September 23-26, 2008. The GISE meeting is attended by over fifteen hundred of Italy's leading cardiologists. During the first day of the meeting over seven hundred interventional cardiologists lined up to visit the MGuard display at the exhibit of Kardia Srl, InspireMD's distributor of the MGuard coronary stent system in Italy. "We are delighted with the overwhelming interest in the MGuard stent system at the GISE conference, hundreds of interventional cardiologists streamed to our display at the conference daily- it was hard but yet inspiring to meet everybody's interest in the MGuard" claimed Dr. Asher Holzer, InspireMD's President.

The vast interest in the MGuard stent system at GISE was in part derived from Dr. Yaron Almagor's exciting presentation of the MGuard and its latest outstanding clinical results. Dr. Yaron Almagor is the Director of Cardiac Catheterization and Interventional Cardiology Laboratories at Jesselson Heart Center, Shaare Zedek Medical Center Jerusalem, Israel and has been an Associate and Co-Director at the Columbus Heart Center in Milan, Italy. To further add to the excitement at GISE, Prof. Federico Piccioni from the Federico II University Hospital of Naples Italy presented the results of his work with MGuard. When sharing his experience using the MGuard, Prof. Piccioni stated "We deployed the MGuard stents in 70 acute MI patients. This superb stent system, which includes the unique protective net, prevents the escaping of emboli into the bloodstream during and post procedure and prevents damage to the arterial wall - all this may lessen the chance for Myocardial Infarction".

Two clinical trials with MGuard are now underway. The MAGICAL Trial (MGuard in SVG and Native Coronaries Trial) is being conducted in Brazil and the GUARD Trial (MGuard in Acute Myocardial Infarction Study) in Poland. The main objective of the MAGICAL trial is to investigate the safety and efficacy of the MGuard stent in human subjects who are candidates for a PCI due to a narrowing of a native coronary artery or a bypass graft. Since November 2007, 21 patients have been enrolled. The device has so far demonstrated an excellent performance in a highly complex lesion subset, with no angiographic and/or procedural complications and 0% clinical events at 30 days. Six-month angiographic follow-up has started and enrolment is ongoing. The GUARD Study is a prospective, multi center study, designed to confirm the feasibility, efficacy and safety of MGuard(TM) in acute MI patients. The GUARDS study will include 60 patients, and its primary endpoints are complete resolution of ST-segment elevation and restoration of flow through the occluded artery. The first 8 patients have been implanted successfully with the MGuard Coronary Stent, in the Jagiellonian University Clinic, in Krakow, Poland.

About MGuard(TM) Coronary

The MGuard Coronary stent presents a novel combination of a coronary stent merged with an embolic protection device. The embolic protection device is comprised of an ultra-thin polymer mesh protective sleeve, wrapped around the stent. The protective sleeve is composed of a micron-level-fiber knitted mesh, engineered in an optimal geometric configuration and designed for utmost flexibility while retaining strength characteristics of the fiber material. The sleeve is designed to expand seamlessly when the stent is deployed, without affecting the structural integrity of the stent, and to prevent plaque detachment during and post procedure. The MGuard Coronary stent provides long acting embolic protection, without adding complexity in deliverability. The sleeve is designed to diffuse stent pressure on the vessel wall, thereby may reduce injury and lower the likelihood of restenosis. MGuard is CE Mark approved.

The MGuard Coronary's innovative concept has enjoyed an enthusiastic welcome from leading interventional cardiologists around the world.

About InspireMD

InspireMD, Ltd. is an innovative medical device company focusing on the development and commercialization of its proprietary stent system technology, MGuard(TM). The company intends to apply its technology to develop products used in interventional cardiology and other vascular procedures. InspireMD's mission is to utilize its proprietary technology to make its products the industry standard for stents and to provide a superior solution to the key clinical issues of current stenting procedures: restenosis, embolic showers, and late thrombosis.

In addition to providing embolic protection and minimizing arterial injury, this promising technology is aimed at providing an effective and uniform drug delivery mechanism for next generation drug eluting stents. InspireMD intends to pursue applications of this technology both for bare metal and drug eluting stents in coronary, carotid and peripheral artery procedures. For further information visit http://www.inspire-md.com

Contact: Jonina Ohayon Marketing Director Tel +972-52-5791120 jonina@inspire-md.com

Contact: Jonina Ohayon, Marketing Director, Tel +972-52-5791120, jonina@inspire-md.com