NMT Medical, Inc. (Nasdaq: NMTI) said today that it is closing down its patent foramen ovale (PFO)/migraine trial, MIST II, to focus its resources on its PFO/stroke opportunity.

“Even though more than 1,400 patients have been screened for enrollment in the trial, only a handful of those patients have met the requirements to be randomized,” president and Chief Executive Officer John E. Ahern said in a statement.

NMT says the trial’s termination will enable the company to save approximately $14 million over the next two to three years as it shifts the resources originally allocated for the MIST II trial toward the company’s stroke initiatives.

As a result of this decision, NMT said it has stopped patient enrollment in MIST II, which was being conducted at 20 centers in the United States. MIST II, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September 2005 and redesigned in August 2006, had a rigorous patient screening process.

Shares of NMT Medical (NMTI) tumbled 26.56%, or $1.66, to $4.59 at 12:49 p.m. ET. Shares of NMT Medical have been trading in the range of $4.56 to $16.06 for the past 52 weeks.

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