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LEAD STORIES
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Smith & Nephew to Acquire BlueSky Medical
Woody |
Seeking to expand its wound-care business into the rapidly growing negative-pressure therapy sector, Smith & Nephew plc (London) announced earlier this month that it intends to acquire BlueSky Medical Group Inc. (Carlsbad, CA). Details of the purchase include an initial payment of $15 million, with the potential for additional performance-based incentives of up to $95 million. According to Smith & Nephew, the global market for negative-pressure wound therapy had a 2006 valuation of $1.2 billion and is growing at an annual pace of 12% in the United States—and more than twice that rate in other regions.
“We are very excited by this acquisition and the market position that this will give us,” said Joe Woody, president of Smith & Nephew’s advanced wound management division. “We look forward to adding BlueSky’s products to our customer solutions for hard-to-heal wounds and to working with these exciting products. With our global scale, distribution channels, and customer understanding, we can effectively leverage BlueSky’s sales and profits into a substantial business.” [ More ]
CoStar Stent Fails Head-to-Head Test against Taxus
Rogers |
Early this month, Conor Medsystems LLC (Menlo Park, CA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson Inc. (J&J; New Brunswick, NJ), reported that its CoStar cobalt chromium stent failed to meet the primary endpoint of the recently conducted CoStar II clinical trial. The study was designed to demonstrate the device’s noninferiority to the Taxus stent, manufactured by Boston Scientific Corp. (Natick, MA). However, the study found that the major adverse cardiac event rate for the CoStar stent was 11%, compared with 6.9% for Taxus—a statistically significant difference.
In attempting to explain the failure of the CoStar drug-eluting stent in its head-to-head test with Taxus, J&J cited both the choice of drug and the dosage amounts as key factors. Campbell Rogers, MD, chief technology officer of J&J’s Cordis division, said, “While disappointed with the results, we remain optimistic about the ability of the novel Conor Medsystems reservoir platform to provide precise and controlled delivery of a therapeutic agent based on earlier proof-of-concept testing and trials. Unfortunately, the dose of paclitaxel used in this trial was ineffective." [ More ]
Massachusetts Medtech Sector to Share in State’s $1 Billion Life Sciences Initiative
Sommer |
This month, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick unveiled his proposal for a 10-year, $1 billion investment to further strengthen the state’s position in product research and development in the life sciences. The proposal, which is expected to be approved by the Massachusetts legislature, would provide funds to support life sciences research, set up a state stem cell bank, establish fellowship grants, and foster the development of life sciences centers to promote technology transfer and product development across the state.
Before the initiative was announced, the state’s medtech industry had an active seat at the discussion table. Tom Sommer, president of the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (Boston), said, “Along with representatives from other life sciences sectors in the state, we were actively involved in reviewing the proposal—and will continue to contribute to the complete package as it unfolds.” [ More ]
Hologic to Acquire Cytyc in $6.2 Billion Deal
Cumming |
In a move designed to boost its position in women’s healthcare, Hologic Inc. (Bedford, MA) announced its intention to purchase Cytyc Corp. (Marlborough, MA) in a cash and stock transaction valued at about $6.2 billion. The new company will operate under the Hologic name, with Cytyc becoming a wholly owned subsidiary. The deal has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies, though it still must pass muster with stockholders and antitrust regulators.
Hologic chairman and CEO Jack Cumming described the deal as a perfect fit. “By combining our companies’ complementary best-in-class products and technologies, we expect to drive enhanced growth and value creation,” he said. “Both Hologic and Cytyc have a track record of successfully executing on strategic transactions, and we expect to realize the benefits of this combination quickly and efficiently.” [ More ]
Medtronic–Biosense Webster Alliance Designed to Boost Cardiac Ablation
Mahle |
Early this month, Medtronic Inc. (Minneapolis) and Biosense Webster Inc. (Diamond Bar, CA), a Johnson & Johnson company, announced a strategic alliance designed to advance the care of patients with cardiac arrhythmias. In a joint announcement, the companies said they intend to design a clinical trial that would better identify patient candidates most likely to benefit from ablation therapy and, in so doing, increase the acceptance of catheter ablation to treat cardiac arrhythmia.
Steve Mahle, president of Medtronic’s cardiac rhythm management (CRM) business, said the collaboration would begin “by bringing the unique competencies of imaging and navigation together with diagnostics and monitoring in an effort to improve the electrophysiologist’s capability in identifying and treating patients.” [ More ]
Economic Development Groups Join Forces to Boost Regional Bioscience Businesses
Representatives of BioEnterprise (Cleveland) and Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse were on hand at this month’s annual convention of the Biotechnology Industry Organization to promote the economic development groups’ new alliance. Together, the groups hope to accelerate the development of the region’s medical device, biopharmaceutical, and healthcare service industries.
Meanwhile, the Southern California Biomedical Council (SoCalBio; Los Angeles) announced late this month that its board of directors voted unanimously to approve the integration of Orange County’s Life Science Industry Council into SoCalBio. Through the merger, the organizations hope to maximize their capacity to represent and serve Southern California’s growing biotech and medical device constituencies in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, the Inland Empire, and the Gold Coast. [ More ]
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| IN THIS ISSUE |
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Smith & Nephew to Acquire BlueSky Medical
CoStar Stent Fails Head-to-Head Test against Taxus
Massachusetts Medtech Sector to Share in State’s $1 Billion Life Sciences Initiative
Hologic to Acquire Cytyc in $6.2 Billion Deal
Medtronic–Biosense Webster Alliance Designed to Boost Cardiac Ablation
Economic Development Groups Join Forces to Boost Regional Bioscience Businesses
INDUSTRY IN BRIEF
CALENDAR
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INDUSTRY IN BRIEF
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Cardinal Health (Dublin, OH) has agreed to purchase Viasys Healthcare for an estimated $1.5 billion, including the assumption of outstanding debt. Cardinal Health says that the acquisition of Viasys—which reported 2006 revenues of $610 million—will help establish the combined company as a leader in the more than $4 billion respiratory care market. The acquisition will also provide a range of complementary products to Cardinal Health’s medical disposables business.
Following a contentious bidding war with Beckman Coulter Inc. (Fullerton, CA), Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. (Waltham, MA) announced that it had entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire all outstanding common stock of Biosite (San Diego) for $92.50 per share. The bidding for Biosite began in late March, when Beckman Coulter entered into an agreement to buy Biosite for $85 a share, or approximately $1.55 billion. The offer was quickly and unanimously endorsed by Biosite’s board. Yet, only days later, Inverness made an unsolicited bid for Biosite at $90 per share. Beckman Coulter matched the offer, but indicated that its bid would go no higher. In closing out its existing merger agreement with Beckman Coulter, Biosite will pay the company a termination fee of $54 million.
Earlier this month, President George W. Bush announced his intention to nominate Kerry N. Weems as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS; Washington, DC). Weems, who currently serves as deputy chief of staff at HHS, will replace acting commissioner Leslie V. Norwalk, who assumed the role following the departure of Mark B. McClellan, MD, PhD.
Components manufacturer Greatbatch Inc. (Clarence, NY) has agreed to acquire medical products manufacturer Enpath Medical Inc. (Minneapolis) for approximately $102 million, including assumption of debt. Enpath produces single-use medical device products for the cardiac rhythm management, neuromodulation, and interventional radiology markets. Greatbatch is a manufacturer of critical components used in implantable medical devices and other applications.
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CALENDAR
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June 6–8: Medical Marketing Association National Conference, San Francisco.
June 7: Southern California Biomedical Council Investor Conference, Los Angeles.
June 7–8: Frontiers in Biomedical Devices, Irvine, CA.
June 11–14: Medical Design & Manufacturing East, New York City.
June 14–15: Biotech and Life Sciences Global Venture Congress, New York City.
June 20–21: Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich, and Rosati Medical Device Conference, San Jose.
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