• Angiotech Pharmaceuticals (Vancouver, British Columbia) reported expiration of the FTC’s waiting period for its purchase of American Medical Systems Holdings (AMI; Lake Forest, Illinois), allowing it to proceed with the $785 million all-cash acquisition, subject to satisfying remaining conditions. Angiotech first reported the planned purchase in February. AMI makes single-use medical device products for specialty areas such as vascular surgery, interventional radiology, general surgery, wound closure, and minimally-invasive cosmetic surgery.
• Cardium Therapeutics (San Diego) reported buying InnerCool Therapies (also San Diego), a developer of therapeutic hypothermia technologies. Cardium will issue to InnerCool shareholders 2.5 million shares of Cardium common stock (less than 8% of its outstanding shares after the acquisition) and assume certain outstanding liabilities of about $560,000. InnerCool investors also will be entitled to a one-time product success payment of $5 million upon full calendar-year revenues from the commercial sale of InnerCool products exceeding $20 million. Cardium said it would operate InnerCool through a newly formed, wholly owned Delaware subsidiary, InnerCool Therapies Inc. InnerCool manufactures endovascular systems designed to rapidly and controllably cool the body. Its flagship product, the Celsius control system, is being used in surgical and intensive-care hospital units.
• Fisher Scientific International (Hampton, New Hampshire) reported two deals that it said will “significantly enhance” its capabilities in molecular diagnostics. Fisher has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Athena Diagnostics (Worcester, Massachusetts), a developer of molecular diagnostic and immunodiagnostic tests and services, from Behrman Capital for $283 million in cash. Athena has a portfolio of neurologic, nephrologic and endocrine diagnostic tests targeting such diseases as neurogenetic and neuromuscular disorders, as well as Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, obesity, kidney disease and diabetes. Simultaneous with its acquisition of Athena, Fisher said it also has entered into an agreement to purchase 9% of Nanogen (San Diego) for $15 million in cash. Nanogen is a provider of advanced molecular diagnostic equipment, microarrays and reagents for diagnostic applications. Fisher and Nanogen will collaborate to expand the use of Athena’s markers and tests.
• MicroVention (Aliso Viejo, California), a privately held developer of minimally invasive treatments for cerebral and vascular peripheral diseases, reported that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Terumo (Tokyo) an international manufacturer of general hospital, cardiac, vascular and home healthcare products. The value of the all-cash deal was not disclosed. MicroVention and its employees and management will continue to operate out of the company’s headquarters in Aliso Viejo.
• Novoste (Norcross, Georgia) and Best Vascular (Springfield, Virginia) jointly reported the completion of the purchase by Best of substantially all of Novoste’s vascular brachytherapy (VBT) business. The companies had initially reported the transaction last October. Consideration for the sale to Best was Best’s assumption of various Novoste liabilities related to the VBT business. As part of the transaction, Novoste amended its charter to change its corporate name to NOVT Corp. Best Vascular was established by Best Medical (also Springfield) for the purpose of focusing on the VBT acquired from Novoste. The deal provides closure to what has been a rocky journey. The sale originally was contingent on a merger between Novoste and ONI Medical Systems (Wilmington, Massachusetts), which fell through last September after Novoste’s shareholders failed to approve the issuance of shares of Novoste common stock required to complete the merger.
• Royal Philips Electronics (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) and Witt Biomedical (Melbourne, Florida) have unveiled plans for Philips to acquire Witt – which it calls the largest independent supplier of hemodynamic monitoring and clinical reporting systems used in cardiology cath labs – for about $165 million. Through the acquisition, scheduled to close in 2Q06 – both companies expect to benefit from being able to offer customers an integrated suite of technologies for the cath lab, and promoting sales in cardiovascular X-ray, cardiology PACS, and in hemodynamic monitoring and reporting systems. Upon deal close, Witt Biomedical will be integrated into the Cardiovascular X-ray business unit within Philips Medical Systems.
• SurModics (Eden Prairie, Minnesota), a provider of surface modification and drug delivery technologies to the healthcare industry, said it has obtained an option to acquire a license with exclusivity in defined fields from InnoCore Technologies (Groningen, the Netherlands) to the SynBiosys polymer system – a family of biodegradable polymers for use in the site-specific delivery of drugs from medical devices.