After getting an upgrade from Zacks Investment Research from a “hold” to a “buy,” Dextera Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ:DXTR) are galloping ahead in Monday trading action on positive news about the company’s MicroCutter 5/80 surgical stapler. Data collected from 82 patients undergoing Microlobectomy showed that the median hospital stay was reduced by a minimum of two days compared to traditional open lobectomy procedures. The data further showed that over 20 percent of patients went home the day after surgery using the MicroCutter 5/80.
Microlobectomy is an adaptation of long-used techniques that allow surgeons to access a patient’s lungs through small incisions between the ribs. A lobectomy a surgery most frequently used for lung cancer to remove one of the lung’s lobes. Dextera, formerly known as Cardica until last June, trumpets itself as the manufacturer of the smallest profile and most versatile articulating surgical stapling platform on the market for minimally invasive surgery.
Dr. Marco Nardini from James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, U.K. presented the new data at the Scandinavian Society for Research in Cardiothoracic Surgery 2017 held in Geilo, Norway.
The MicroCutter 5/80, so named because it has only a five millimeter diameter and can articulate 80 degrees, is approved for use in the United States, where more than one million minimally invasive laparoscopic, video- or robot-assisted surgical procedures happen each year.
Shares of DXTR closed trading at $1.14 on Friday and have rocketed ahead 46 cents with one hour left in the trading session on Monday for a gain of 40.4%. Throughout the trading day, shares surged as high as $1.98.
