Ten years ago, a group of executives launched Jomed with the thought of challenging the large cardiovascular device companies as a global player. Jomed never quite achieved that goal--though it came close. Now, with an innovative NO-loaded balloon, some former Jomed executives hope to do in interventional neurology what they tried to do in interventional cardiology.

Ten years ago, a group of executives launched Jomed with the thought of challenging the large cardiovascular device companies as a global player. Jomed never quite achieved that goal--though it came close. Now, with an innovative NO-loaded balloon, some former Jomed executives hope to do in interventional neurology what they tried to do in interventional cardiology.

Over the past several years, Swiss Jomed has been one of the few small European stent companies to grow into a major cardiovascular device company. Last year's successful IPO was testimony to the company's strong sales growth. But it was two deals the company did following soon after the IPO, the acquisitions of US-based MediDyne and EndoSonics, that will test whether Jomed is ready to break out of the pack and compete on a truly global scale with medical device giants such as Guidant and Medtronic.