In its eighth disclosed acquisition this year, Medtronic ($MDT) will purchase vascular aneurysm player Medina Medical for $150 million plus additional undisclosed milestone payments. The stealthy startup already has a CE mark for its embolization device to treat cerebral aneurysm.
The device is an intrasaccular 3-D mesh implant that is delivered via a microcatheter and fills the inside of a brain aneurysm. It's designed to offer a scaffold across the aneurysm neck that conforms to its shape and reduces blood flow.
Medtronic recently said it would acquire another aneurysm startup, Aptus Endosystems, for $115 million; it's focused on endovascular aneurysm repair. The med tech giant also invested in and received an option to buy another aneurysm repair player, Arsenal AAA, which has a novel foam to fill and stabilize aneurysms.
 |
| Brett Wall |
"Medina Medical's breakthrough technology makes it a natural fit with our neurovascular portfolio, further strengthening our hemorrhagic stroke portfolio," said Medtronic Neurovascular President Brett Wall in a statement. "The Medina embolization device features advanced technology to treat cerebral aneurysms that we think can one day disrupt the coil market."
Neurovascular is already one of the strongest performers within Medtronic's Restorative Therapies Group. Last quarter, the company reported $132 million in neurovascular revenue, an increase of 23% from the same period a year prior. The business is largely a legacy from the Covidien acquisition and "had strong double-digit growth across coils, stents, flow diversion and access," Medtronic CFO Gary Ellis said on that earnings call.
Medtronic's Restorative Therapies Group reported a 5% gain to $1.6 billion in revenue last quarter, which was largely driven by its neurovascular, as well as the surgical technologies and neuromodulation businesses.
As for Medina Medical, the Menlo Park, CA-based startup brought in Erik Engelson as CEO in August 2014; he was previously a partner in the medical device incubator The Foundry. Prior to being there, he had been the CFO of Fluidigm, a venture partner at Versant Ventures and an entrepreneur-in-residence at Institutional Venture Partners.
Medina was co-founded by Maria Aboytes and Kimberly Vogel. Medical device engineer Aboytes is the CTO at Medina, according to her LinkedIn profile. Previously, she was an R&D manager at Ardian, a cardiovascular catheter company that came out of The Foundry and sold to Medtronic for $800 million plus commercial milestones--in addition to an undisclosed amount invested earlier. Vogel was the CEO prior to Engelson; she was also an early Google employee and remains a strategic adviser to Medina.
"We look forward to working closely with Medtronic to provide expanded access and economic efficiencies to our clinical partners in fighting stroke--particularly aneurysms and hemorrhagic stroke," said Engelson in a statement on the Medtronic acquisition.
- here is the statement