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Boston Scientific to acquire maker of treatment for severe mitral regurgitation

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Boston Scientific announced it agreed to buy a stake in Millipede Inc., which has developed a transcatheter-based treatment for severe mitral regurgitation, with the option of purchasing the entire company.

According to a press release from Boston Scientific, the company will purchase outstanding shares of Millipede along with newly issued shares of the privately held company for $90 million, with the option to acquire the remaining shares prior to the completion of a first-in-human clinical study of the severe mitral regurgitation treatment (Iris Transcatheter Annuloplasty Ring System).

When the study is completed, Millipede has the option to compel Boston Scientific to acquire the remaining shares of the company. Both option periods expire by the end of 2019.

According to the release, if the acquisition is completed, Boston Scientific would pay an additional $325 million at closing, plus as much as $125 million upon achievement of a commercial milestone.

Patients with severe mitral regurgitation often cannot tolerate open-heart surgery to repair or replace the mitral valve, so Millipede’s fully percutaneous transcatheter-based procedure to repair the dilated mitral annulus could serve an unmet need, Boston Scientific stated in the release.

"Intervening with the least invasive approach at earlier stages of severe mitral regurgitation has the greatest opportunity to alter the natural history of the disease and the progression to heart failure," Ian Meredith, AM, executive vice president and global chief medical officer of Boston Scientific, said in the release. "We believe that restoring mitral annular dimensions via a transcatheter mitral annuloplasty ring will be a crucial component to effective, minimally invasive improvement of mitral valve function for appropriately indicated patients."

The annuloplasty ring can be used as a stand-alone device or in combination with other technologies, according to the release.

Disclosure: Meredith is an employee of Boston Scientific.