Devices & Diagnostics

Covidien discloses $60M purchase of hypertension treatment firm

Covidien announced Tuesday that it will introduce a new renal denervation treatment at a European […]

Covidien announced Tuesday that it will introduce a new renal denervation treatment at a European conference in mid May, but nowhere in the press release does the Massachusetts device firm name the developer of the technology: Maya Medical, based in Campbell, California.

For that you have to read the company’s quarterly report filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission Friday. In it, Covidien discloses that it purchased Maya Medical for $60 million in cash on April 20. If Maya Medical meets certain regulatory and sales milestones, it will receive up to an additional $170 million. Covidien notes that Maya Medical’s OneShot system received the CE Mark in February.

MedCity News was the first to report Covidien’s interest in Maya Medical last week.

In a note to investors Monday, analyst Bob Hopkins of Bank of America said that renal denervation “has the potential to be one of the largest new markets in medtech over the next 2-4 years and for [Covidien] this looks like another small deal with big potential.”

Renal denervation is used to treat uncontrolled hypertension, or high blood pressure, by the ablation of the nerves that line the renal arteries using a catheter. The Cleveland Clinic called renal denervation the No. 1 healthcare innovation of 2012.

The purchase brings Covidien into direct competition with Medtronic, whose Symplicity renal denervation system is approved in Europe. Currently, the system is being tested in the U.S. St. Jude Medical, Medtronic’s in-state rival, is also developing a therapy and that is expected to have a limited European market launch before the end of the year.

But it is not only the larger players that Covidien will have to play against in Europe. A whole host of companies is developing products there, including ReCor Medical, whose Paradise Ultrasound Transcatheter Renal Denervation System received the CE Mark in the fourth quarter of last year, said CEO Mano Iyer in an email.

On May 1, Vessix Vascular announced that it similarly won the European nod for its V2 Renal Denervation System.

[Photo Credit: Arvind Balaraman]

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