PPENPenumbra, Inc.

Penumbra makes the instruments that pull a clot out of a vessel mechanically instead of dissolving it with a drug.

In a stroke or a thrombosis minutes count, and drugs do not always work and not on every clot. A catheter that aspirates the clot restores blood flow immediately and where medication cannot. That changed the standard of care and created a market that did not exist before.

Demand is limited not by need but by throughput: the procedure must be performed by a trained physician in a clinic with the right equipment, and such centres are still too few. Training physicians is therefore the main growth lever. Risks: insurer reimbursement decisions, competition from large medical device makers and clinical trial results. The company pays no dividend.