C.R. Bard buys Lutonix’s drug-coated balloon catheter for PAD for $225M

C.R. Bard Inc. will acquire the Maple Grove, Minnesota startup Lutonix Inc. for its novel drug-coated balloon catheter for treatment of peripheral artery disease.

New Jersey-based medical device firm Bard announced Tuesday it would pay $225 million up front and an additional $100 million if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration grants pre-market approval for Lutonix’s drug-coated percutaneous transluminal angioplasty balloon, called Moxy.

The balloon would be used to deliver the drug paclitaxel into arterial walls and clear blockages in patients with hardened arteries that lead to areas of the body besides the heart, such as the brain, kidneys and legs. Lutonix is currently conducting the first trial of a product of this kind in the U.S.

“In our evaluations, Lutonix has the only third-generation, drug-coated balloon technology,”Bard’s Chairman and CEO Timothy Ring said in a statement. “They also have a significant lead with respect to a U.S. launch.”

Moxy received the CE Mark earlier this year and is expected to be on the market in Europe in the second half of 2012. The value of the drug-coated balloon market could reach $1 billion in the next decade, according to Bard.

Founded in 2007, Lutonix is backed by several venture firms that include Delphi Ventures, Versant Ventures and RiverVest Venture Partners, the firm for which the company’s CEO, Dennis Wahr, was formerly managing director. The company closed a $20 million series B round in 2008 and raised another $10 million in a series C round in 2010.