Medtronic Acquires HeartWare for $1.1 Billion
Medtronic PLC has announced it has agreed to acquire HeartWare International Inc. for $1.1 billion in cash. According to the press release, the acquisition will expand Medtronic’s portfolio of diagnostic tools and treatments for heart failure. The companies have said that they expect the deal to close during Medtronic’s second fiscal quarter, ending in late October.
HeartWare, a firm based in suburban Boston, creates minimally-invasive circulatory support technologies for the treatment of advanced heart failure. The HVAD® System, HeartWare’s flagship product, is the first and most widely studied centrifugal ventricular assist device (VAD), designed to facilitate the heart’s blood-pumping function. According to the HeartWare website, the HVAD System is the world’s smallest VAD, weighing only 160 grams, allowing for a less invasive implantation procedure and resulting in improved patient recovery times and outcomes.
Doug Godshall, HeartWare’s president and chief executive, said in a statement that the deal gives HeartWare “a unique opportunity to enhance growth in the mechanical circulatory support market.” Mike Coyle, executive vice president and president of the Cardiac and Vascular Group at Medtronic, stated:
“The team at HeartWare has established excellent relationships with its hospital customers and built a strong position and reputation in the marketplace.”
Medtronic estimates that the global VAD market is about $800 million now and is expected to grow by a percentage in the mid-to-high single digits in the current year and accelerate to a percentage in the high-single, low-double digits in the future.
Medtronic said that it did not expect to adjust its fiscal year 2017 revenue outlook or earnings as a result of the acquisition, and that it expected the deal to contribute to earnings in year three.
HeartWare is one of the two major VAD makers to be acquired within the last 12 months. Thoratec was acquired by St. Jude Medical for about $3.3 billion in October 2015. Abbott in turn agreed to acquire St. Jude for $25 billion in April of this year.
St. Jude Medical Completes Acquisition of Thoratec
St. Jude Medical, Inc. recently announced that it has completed its acquisition of Thoratec Corporation. In July 2015, St. Jude Medical announced its offer to buy Thoratec shares at $63.50 per share. The transaction is valued at about $3.3 billion.
Prior to the acquisition, St. Jude Medical’s heart failure portfolio included its CardioMEMS heart failure (HF) monitoring device, which received a limited FDA approval in 2014 specifically for use “in New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class III heart failure patients who have been hospitalized for heart failure in the previous year.” Acquiring Thoratec augments that portfolio with Thoratec’s HeartMate II and Heartmate 3 LVADs (Left Ventricular Assist Devices), the CentriMag and PediMag Blood Pumps, and the Thoratec PVAD (Paracorporeal Ventricular Assist Device). The HeartMate II received FDA approval in 2008 for use in “patients awaiting further, perhaps more complex treatment, such as transplants” and in 2010 for use in “severe heart failure patients who are not acceptable candidates for heart transplantation.” Thoratec’s Heartmate 3 is a chronic mechanical circulatory support (MCS) device currently being considered for a CE Mark in Europe.
Regarding the acquisition, St. Jude Medical’s Chief Operating Officer and incoming President and Chief Executive Officer, Michael T. Rousseau stated:
St. Jude Medical is excited to bring together two companies that are considered heart failure therapy leaders and build on our established franchise that is now uniquely positioned to offer physicians and patients innovative solutions across the heart failure continuum. We believe this acquisition represents a tremendous opportunity and we welcome Thoratec’s employees as we look forward to changing the way the world views the treatment of this expensive epidemic disease.
According to its website, St. Jude Medical is a global medical device manufacturer, headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota and focuses on six key treatment areas: heart failure, arrhythmias, vascular disease, structural heart, chronic pain, and neurological diseases.
Thoratec is a Pleasanton, California-based company focusing on mechanical circulatory support therapies for heart failures.
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