Volcano ($VOLC) is wrapping up 2012 with an acquisition. Long rumored to be an acquisition target itself, the company will buy Sync-Rx for $17.3 million, MassDevice reports.
Sync-Rx, based in Israel, makes software for transcatheter cardiovascular interventions that use automated online image processing. Its soon-to-be new owner produces cardiac catheter devices and medical tools designed to improve, in part, how coronary and peripheral artery diseases are diagnosed and treated through the use of imaging. The deal is expected to close within a month, at year-end.
Whatever the price, Volcano forges ahead in this deal with the changing healthcare reimbursement climate very much in mind. The company, in its announcement, notes that insurers are increasingly scrutinizing healthcare costs of procedures such as percutaneous coronary interventions. And this means that medical device and instrument makers must produce evidence that validates treatment and outcomes based on use of their products. Data focused on quality metrics and reimbursement support is also crucial, Volcano notes.
That places Volcano at an advantage in a changing market, because the company's technology is designed, in part, to make sure stent procedures are done for the right patients, but also reduce the rates of revascularization and rehospitalization. And Sync-Rx's software will help the company broaden its abilities to gather more kinds of data to enable doctors to successfully make their case come reimbursement time.
The acquisition may also make Volcano an even more desirable M&A target in the months ahead, as rivals and larger cardiac companies seek to beef up their offerings or consolidate as cost pressures heighten in a post-health-reform environment.
- read the release
- here's MassDevice's take