Boston Scientific Corp. said Thursday it has exercised an option to acquire the remaining shares of privately held Millipede Inc. in a move aimed at expanding its heart portfolio.
The deal will give the company the IRIS Transcatheter Annuloplasty Ring System which is in development for the treatment of patients with severe mitral regurgitation (MR) who are not able to tolerate open-heart surgery. Mitral regurgitation is a condition in which a leaky valve does not close the way it should, allowing some blood to flow backward into the left atrium, according to the Mayo Clinic. Left untreated, the disorder can cause heart failure or arrhythmia, according to the clinic. The market for mitral repair and replacement is expected to reach $1 billion by 2021.
Boston Scientific originally invested in Millipede by purchasing $90 million of existing and new shares with the option to acquire the rest for $325 million at closing with a $125 million milestone payment due upon reaching certain commercial goals.
“Upon commercialization, we believe the IRIS system can meet the needs of a currently underserved patient population that requires physiological, less invasive options to treat functional mitral regurgitation in patients with progressive heart failure,” said Professor Ian Meredith, AM, executive vice president and global chief medical officer, Boston Scientific.
Millipede has recently completed a first-in-human clinical study. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter and to be dilutive to adjusted per-share earnings for each of the next several years, with the impact expected to be absorbed by internal trade-offs. Boston Scientific shares fell 1.7% premarket but have gained 35.9% in 2018, while the S&P 500 has fallen 7.7%.
By Ciara Linnane
Source: MarketWatch
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