A Medical Device Daily

Boston Scientific (Natick, Massachusetts) said it has acquired TriVascular (Santa Rosa, California), a privately held company that develops less-invasive medical devices and medical procedures for treating abdominal aortic ane-urysms (AAA).

The company formally exercised an exclusive option to acquire TriVascular that it obtained in December 2002. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

TriVascular successfully completed its first human implant of its AAA stent-graft in 2002 and clinical experience to date on 78 patients has shown promising results in Phase I studies. The U.S. Phase II pivotal trial is planned to begin this year, and commercialization within the U.S. is expected in 2008. CE mark approval also is expected this year. In addition, TriVascular is in the early stages of developing a thoracic aortic stent-graft, built on the same platform as the AAA stent-graft.

“TriVascular has made tremendous progress in the development of a durable stent-graft that we believe will offer a new solution for both our surgical and interventional customers,” said Paul LaViolette, Boston Scientific chief operating officer. “The TriVascular AAA device reflects our commitment to bring more innovative products and add markets to our growing portfolio of cardiovascular solutions.”

The market for AAA stent-grafts was estimated at about $370 million in 2004. However, market evolution and penetration has been limited. Of the 1.7 million patients in the U.S. estimated to have aortic aneurysmal disease, only 360,000 (21%) are diagnosed and just 60,000 (3.5%) receive some form of treatment. Many believe the market could triple by 2008 with the introduction of a device that offers less-invasive placement and the improved durability required to decrease the incidence of re-intervention.

LifePoint Hospitals and Province Healthcare (both Brentwood, Tennessee) have completed their merger. The companies signed a definitive agreement for LifePoint to acquire Province Healthcare for about $1.7 billion in cash, stock and the assumption of debt last August (Medical Device Daily, Aug. 22, 2003).

LifePoint stockholders and Province Healthcare stockholders approved the merger at special meetings, each held on March 28. Headquartered in Brentwood, the new company, LifePoint Hospitals, began trading on the Nasdaq National Market under the ticker symbol LPNT.

“Through this acquisition, we will achieve geographic diversification of revenues and assets with reduced reliance on certain key states such as Kentucky and Tennessee,” said Kenneth Donahey, LifePoint’s chairman, president and CEO.

In connection with the merger, LifePoint Hospitals also said it has purchased all of the roughly $172 million aggregate principal amount of Province Healthcare’s 4-1/4% convertible subordinated notes due 2008 that were tendered prior to the expiration at midnight on April 14, of its previously announced tender offer for the 4-1/4% notes.

In addition, LifePoint reported that, in connection with a previously announced tender offer and consent solicitation, Province Healthcare has repurchased about $194 million of the $200 million outstanding principal amount of its 7-1/2% senior subordinated notes due 2013.

In connection with the merger, Province Healthcare also has called for redemption all of the $75,970,000 outstanding principal amount of its 4-1/2% convertible subordinated notes due 2005, at a redemption price of 100.9% of the principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the redemption date, which is May 16.

LifePoint Hospitals is focused on providing healthcare services in non-urban communities, with 50 hospitals, some 5,285 licensed beds and combined revenues of about $1.9 billion in 2004.