Boston Scientific to acquire remaining shares of Millipede Inc.

Boston Scientific announced it will acquire remaining shares of Millipede Inc., a company that developed a transcatheter annuloplasty ring system for the treatment of patients with severe mitral regurgitation who are unable to undergo open-heart surgery.

Millipede recently completed a successful first-in-human clinical study of the system (IRIS Transcatheter Annuloplasty Ring System, Millipede), according to a press release from Boston Scientific. The system utilizes a complete annuloplasty ring delivered by a transcatheter trans-septal delivery system to reduce the size of a dilated mitral annulus. It can be used either on its own or in combination with other technologies.

“Upon commercialization, we believe the IRIS system can meet the needs of a currently underserved patient population that requires physiological, less invasive options to treat functional mitral regurgitation in patients with progressive heart failure,” said Ian Meredith, AM, executive vice president and global chief medical officer for Boston Scientific, said in the press release. “This device is designed to be highly customizable to a specific patient's mitral anatomy and disease state, and is repositionable and retrievable to promote a high-quality outcome.”

As Cardiology Today’s Intervention previously reported, Boston Scientific agreed to buy a stake in Millipede Inc. in January of this year. At that time, Boston Scientific purchased $90 million in shares with the option to buy the remaining $325 million in shares by the end of 2018.

“We are very satisfied with the early results of our clinical program and are excited to see this technology further leveraged by Boston Scientific to expand the mitral repair solutions for patients around the world,” said Randy Lashinski, co-founder and CEO of Millipede Inc., said in the press release.

Disclosures: Meredith is an employee of Boston Scientific. Lashinski is an employee of Millipede Inc.