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Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) is jumping on the renal denervation bandwagon.
The Natick, Massachusetts, medical device manufacturer announced Thursday that it is buying Caifornia startup Vessix Vascular for an upfront payment of $125 million and the prospect of additional milestone payments between 2013 and 2019 that would make the transaction be worth $300 million.
Vessix Vascular’s V2 Renal Denervation System bears the CE Mark and has Australian regulatory approval as well, but has not been approved in the U.S. Earlier this year, Covidien also threw its hat into the renal denervation ring when it bought another California firm – Maya Medical – for $60 million upfront and milestone payments up to another $170 million.
Renal denervation appears to be the answer to uncontrolled hypertension where the blood pressure remains stubbornly high even with medication.
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“Hypertension is a major global healthcare challenge, affecting more than one billion people worldwide,” said Mike Mahoney, president and chief executive officer at Boston Scientific, in a news release. “Renal denervation represents a potential breakthrough therapy for the treatment of uncontrolled hypertension and is an important part of the Boston Scientific growth strategy. The acquisition of Vessix Vascular adds a second generation, highly differentiated technology to our hypertension strategy while accelerating our entry into what we expect to be a multi-billion dollar market by 2020.”
The leader in the renal denervation space is Medtronic, which bought Ardian, also based in California, for an upfront cash payment of $800 million in 2010. Medtronic, whose Symplicty Renal Denervation System, is not approved in the U.S. either, is conducting a clinical trial to test the product.
Earlier this week ST. Jude Medical said that a small study of its Enlightn renal denervation product showed that it was able to reduce the blood pressure in patients.
Analyst Thom Gunderson with Piper Jaffray, believes that other interventional cardiology companies like Abbott and Johnson & Johnson will also get involved with renal denervation. There should be plenty of startups to choose from.
“I have been told there are well over 50 separate companies working on renal denervation products,” Gunderson said in an email. “