LeMaitre Vascular Inc. (NASDAQ:LMAT) picked up Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s (NASDAQ:ANPI) Lifespan vascular graft business for $2.8 million and spiked a distribution deal Angiotech had with former Lifespan owner Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE:EW).
Burlington, Massachusetts-based LeMaitre said it paid a multiple of 1.8 times the Lifespan revenues from the last 12 months for the vascular prosthesis, which is used to access and repair arteries. Angiotech sold the device via third-party distributors, including Edwards, in the U.S., the European Union, Japan, Canada “and several other markets,” according to a press release.
LeMaitre Vascular and Edwards, which sold the business to Angiotech in late 2005, agreed to wind down their distribution deal as it approaches its Nov. 30 conclusion, with LeMaitre paying Edwards $750,000 “in exchange for orderly market transitions in Europe (where Lifespan sales are strongest) and Japan” and will pay another $500,000 for inventory owned by Edwards, according to a press release. LeMaitre said its own sales force will start hawking the devices Dec. 1.
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Shares of LMAT stock were trading at $6.48 in mid-day activity, up 0.6 percent. ANPI shares were down 4.7 percent as of about noon, to 19 cents. LeMaitre said it expects the deal to reduce fourth-quarter operating income by roughly $300,000, with no appreciable top-line impact. Lifespan sales are expected to be about $1.7 million next year and accretive thereafter, according to the press release.
Vancouver-based Angiotech last month deferred $9.7 million in interest payments, saying it needed to find ways to lower its debt. The company staked its fortunes to Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE:BSX) and the Taxus drug-eluting stent for which it makes the drug paclitaxel. But with Taxus sales in the cellar and still falling, Angiotech has struggled.
Also last month, the Canadian company was sued by a group representing former shareholders of Angiotech subsidiary Quill Medical Inc. for covering up Quill’s questionable sales numbers prior to buying the company.
Angiotech, looking to put some eggs in baskets other than Boston Scientific’s, has been working with Cleveland, Ohio’s, Athersys Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHX) to develop a stem-cell-based cardiovascular treatment.
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The Massachusetts Medical Devices Journal is the online journal of the medical devices industry in the Commonwealth and New England, providing day-to-day coverage of the devices that save lives, the people behind them, and the burgeoning trends and developments within the industry.
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