New Jersey startup Tyrx is now a part of Medtronic ($MDT), as the world's largest medical device company has traded $160 million for the company and its line of FDA-cleared products designed to prevent implant-related infection.
Tyrx, a 2012 Fierce 15 winner, spent the last year picking up regulatory approvals for AigisRx R, a bioresorbable envelope for implanted medical devices that metes out an antiobiotic and wards off costly and dangerous infections. The company has secured U.S. and Canadian go-aheads to market the envelope for implantable cardiac devices and neuromodulators, and Medtronic plans to hit the ground running on the marketing side, doling out performance-based milestones along the way.
While the infection rate for device implants remains low--around 3%, according to Tyrx--patients who undergo repeat procedures face a substantial increase in risk, Medtronic Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management President Pat Mackin said.
"This is estimated to cost the U.S. healthcare system more than $1 billion per year," Mackin said in a statement. "Tyrx has developed an innovative, proven technology to reduce infection risk, making the procedure safer for patients and removing significant costs from the healthcare system."
Tyrx CEO Bob White told FierceMedicalDevices last year that his 50-employee company was prepared to go it alone for some time, using a $23 million Series B closed in 2010 to launch AigisRx R and ride the envelope to profitability. That, apparently, was before Medtronic came calling. White said in a statement today that Tyrx is looking forward to joining forces with the med tech giant and capitalizing on its deep market reach.
- read the statement
Special Report: FierceMedicalDevices' 2012 Fierce 15 - Tyrx