Cerenovus is certainly feeling the luck of the Irish.
Fresh off an expansion of its research and development site in Galway, Ireland, Johnson & Johnson’s neurovascular device-focused business is making plans to continue building out the facility and its local workforce.
The expansion plans are backed by a recent investment of 50 million euros, or about $56.5 million, in Cerenovus’ Galway presence, the company and Ireland’s Industrial Development Agency announced Monday. The money has been set aside to support Cerenovus’ growth on the Emerald Isle over the next three years.
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The new funding will allow Cerenovus to create at least 30 new, specialized jobs at the Galway site, adding to the more than 90 specialized workers already employed at the R&D facility.
It also paid for the company’s slate of recent upgrades to the facility. New additions include a stroke simulation laboratory, more meeting areas and expanded spaces for collaborating with physicians and developing and testing prototypes.
Cerenovus is responsible for building J&J’s portfolio of devices to treat neurovascular conditions, with a primary focus on stroke. Current offerings include a range of catheters, revascularization devices, endovascular microcoils and the Trufill liquid embolic system.
“At Cerenovus Galway, we develop devices using our unique capabilities simulating the underlying diseases that cause stroke,” said Michael Gilvarry, general manager of Cerenovus Galway. “Leading physicians from around the world travel to Cerenovus in Galway to support the development of devices used in the endovascular treatment of strokes, simulating real-life stroke scenarios, working with our expert teams to implement further device innovations into the Cerenovus stroke solutions.”
Gilvarry continued, “This investment will allow us to continue to conduct breakthrough research and push the boundaries of technology to put even better tools in the hands of physicians that make stroke treatment faster, easier and even more effective.”
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Cerenovus was formed in 2017, when J&J bundled its Pulsar Vascular, Neuravi and Codman Neurosurgery assets into a single entity.
Through its fellow J&J devicemaking subsidiary DePuy Synthes, Codman Neurosurgery acquired California-based Pulsar Vascular in 2016 for an undisclosed amount. It quickly followed that up with the purchase of Galway-based Neuravi in early 2017. Though that purchase price wasn’t disclosed either, local publications reported at the time that it was among the largest medtech deals in Europe since Medtronic’s $700 million CoreValve buyout nearly a decade prior.
Just a few weeks after Cerenovus was established in September 2017, J&J proceeded to sell off its remaining Codman Neurosurgery assets to Integra LifeSciences for $1.045 billion.