St. Jude Gets Australian Approval for DBS System

St. Jude Medical has received approval from the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration for its Athena programmer, a deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy system designed to manage the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Designed as a tablet PC, the Athena system allows physicians to set and adjust DBS parameters, while storing and organizing data for up to 1,000 patients, St. Jude says. The system also is approved in the EU.