MILESTONES
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Marko
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Medical Ventures Corp. (Richmond, BC, Canada), a medical devices company specializing in vascular and surgical products, has signed an agreement to acquire two vascular product development companies, B-Balloon Ltd. and Neovasc Medical Ltd. Both companies were incubated by Peregrine Ventures (Or Yehuda, Israel) and are focused on developing new technologies for the interventional treatment of heart and vascular diseases. Neovasc has developed a specialized stent for the treatment of refractory angina, and B-Balloon is developing devices used to treat ostial and bifurcation lesions in coronary and peripheral arteries. Lead investor the Frost Group (Miami) and other investors are expected to invest an aggregate of $6 million in the related financing, for approximately 10% of Medical Ventures' common shares following the acquisition. Concurrent with completing the transactions, Alexei Marko, currently Medical Ventures' president and chief operating officer, will assume the role of president and CEO. "Acquiring Neovasc and B-Balloon will bring several new vascular therapies into Medical Ventures' product pipeline and will provide us with attractive short- and long-term revenue opportunities," said Marko. "In securing the support of the Frost Group and Peregrine Ventures, we have partnered with a team that has priority access to new life-sciences technologies worldwide, as well as to the capital we need as we accelerate our move into the United States and other markets."
Medtronic Inc. (Minneapolis) and Arbor Surgical Technologies Inc. (Irvine, CA) announced an exclusive global licensing agreement under which Medtronic will manufacture, market, and distribute Arbor's bovine pericardial tissue heart valve technologies. In addition, Medtronic has acquired a minority stake in Arbor as part of the company's recent $20 million series C financing round. Medtronic reports that Arbor's technology will facilitate the development of Medtronic's first pericardial valve, which will complement its portfolio of porcine and mechanical heart valves. Arbor retains its exclusive rights to its modular Trilogy aortic valve system and sutureless TRE implantation technologies. "We are optimistic that Arbor's pericardial valve design combined with Medtronic's proprietary technologies will achieve best-in-class performance," said John Liddicoat, MD, vice president and general manager of the structural heart disease business at Medtronic. "No other comparable technology exists today."
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Balthrop
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Biological testing technology developer Luminex Corp. (Austin, TX) and Tyson Foods Inc. (Springdale, AR) have reached a collaboration agreement to create food safety and animal health tests. Luminex has historically focused on the development of assays for the human health, pharmaceutical, and biomedical research fields; however, company officials believe their processes and technologies could benefit the food safety and animal health industries both domestically and internationally. Tyson and Luminex's first collaboration is the development of an avian flock health monitoring panel. "Luminex is pleased to partner with Tyson to develop novel tests that we believe will allow the food industry to screen for pathogens and other microbes more efficiently and accurately," said Patrick J. Balthrop, president and chief executive officer of Luminex. "Our xMAP technology, which enables multiple tests to be run simultaneously on one sample, has great application in the food safety and animal health arena, as it provides a significant level of data quickly and efficiently." Luminex also recently announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from FDA for its xTAG respiratory viral panel, the first FDA-cleared assay to simultaneously detect and identify 12 viruses and viral subtypes that together are responsible for more than 85% of respiratory viral infections.
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Niland
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Vapotherm Inc. (Stevensville, MD), a privately held manufacturer of respiratory care devices, has been granted patent protection through 2022 for an apparatus used in its delivery tube technology for respiratory tract therapy. "Our patient delivery circuit design is unique in the field and provides Vapotherm a competitive advantage through the delivery of optimally conditioned breathing gases all the way to the patient, whereas conventional approaches can result in significant temperature and humidity loss," said William Niland, chairman and chief business development officer at Vapotherm.
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Power
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Drug-delivery technology manufacturer Aerogen Ltd. (Galway, Ireland) has completed a management buyout from its U.S. parent, Nektar Therapeutics (San Carlos, CA), for an undisclosed amount. Under the terms of the deal, Nektar will maintain a minority share in Aerogen, which specializes in products for the respiratory sector. "This deal empowers Aerogen to grow our business and expand our product offerings," said John Power, CEO of Aerogen. The company reports that it plans to announce new partnerships with a number of U.S. and European market leaders in both the medical field and commercial products area in the near future.
Dental implant manufacturer Lifecore Biomedical Inc. (Chaska, MN) has entered into an agreement with affiliates of private equity firm Warburg Pincus (New York City) to be acquired for approximately $239 million. "In addition to our shareholders, who we believe will receive fair value for their Lifecore shares, we believe that this transaction with Warburg Pincus is positive for our employees and our customers," said Dennis J. Allingham, president and CEO of Lifecore Biomedical. "The transaction will allow us to continue to provide exceptional products to our customers. As a private company, Lifecore will have greater flexibility to focus on its long-term strategic direction."
Alphatec Spine Inc. (Carlsbad, CA) and Progressive Spinal Technologies LLC (Baltimore) have entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement that provides Alphatec Spine the right to develop and commercialize Progressive's osteoporotic pedicle screw technology solution. "This product provides a revolutionary and unique solution to the spine surgeon in dealing with patients with poor bone quality," said Dirk Kuyper, Alphatec's president and CEO. "This is one more example of our commitment to providing solutions targeted at serving the needs of the spine surgeon and the elderly spinal segment of the marketplace, which, combined with V-stent for vertebral compression fractures, positions Alphatec as a leader in the fastest-growing demographic segment of the market."
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Rusckowski
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Royal Philips Electronics (Amsterdam) plans to acquire clinical IT and service provider Visicu Inc. (Baltimore) for approximately $430 million. Philips plans to integrate Visicu's remote patient monitoring and clinical decision support technology with its patient monitors. "[The] deal builds on Philips' announcement two weeks ago that we're acquiring another clinical IT company, Emergin," said Steve Rusckowski, CEO of Philips Healthcare. "Philips is a market leader in patient monitoring systems in the hospital, so we know the challenges our customers face—rising patient numbers, staff shortages, and concerns about patient safety. By investing in clinical IT solutions like those offered by Visicu and Emergin, we believe we can offer customers more attractive patient monitoring solutions that improve hospital productivity as well as patient outcomes. So making these investments we believe will drive further growth in our patient monitoring business."
