SAN FRANCISCO – Less than three years ago, Medtronic (Minneapolis) jolted the med-tech world with the $800 million cash (plus potential earnouts of another $500 million) acquisition of privately-owned, venture capital-funded Ardian (Mountain View, California) (Medical Device Daily, Dec. 1, 2010). Generally unheralded, Ardian had pioneered a catheter-based procedure called renal artery denervation (RDN) for the treatment of resistant hypertension (RH).