Medtronic has announced that it has acquired Sapiens Steering Brain Stimulation (Sapiens SBS) for approximately US$200 million in an all-cash transaction.
Sapiens SBS, located in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is developing a deep brain stimulation system that features an advanced lead with 40 individual stimulation points. This advanced system is designed to allow more precise stimulation of the intended target in the brain and may potentially result in reduced procedure time and fewer stimulation-induced side effects.
Employees at the Eindhoven facility will continue to work toward bringing this technology to market. In the future, the site will serve as a global research and development centre for Medtronic’s Neuromodulation business.
Medtronic and Sapiens SBS will work to finalise product development and begin clinical research to integrate these technologies into an expanded portfolio of deep brain stimulation products within Medtronic’s Neuromodulation business.
“This acquisition broadens our neuroscience leadership position with innovative brain modulation technology that, along with our comprehensive portfolio of deep brain stimulation solutions, may one day transform the way physicians are able to treat patients with neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor,” says Lothar Krinke, vice president and general manager of the Brain Modulation business at Medtronic.
“Since 2011, Sapiens SBS employees have worked tirelessly to develop an advanced deep brain stimulation system,” says Jan Keltjens, chief executive officer at Sapiens SBS. “We are excited to join Medtronic, and look forward to collectively working to bring this and other novel technologies and therapies to neuromodulation patients worldwide that could benefit from them.”
Medtronic Neuromodulation business currently includes implantable neurostimulation and targeted drug delivery systems for the management of chronic pain, common movement disorders, spasticity and urologic and gastrointestinal disorders.
More than 115,000 patients worldwide have received Medtronic deep brain stimulation therapy, which is approved in Europe and the USA for the treatment of the disabling symptoms of essential tremor, advanced Parkinson’s disease and chronic intractable primary dystonia. The approval in the USA is under a humanitarian device exemption (HDE). In Europe, Canada and Australia, deep brain stimulation therapy is approved for the treatment of refractory epilepsy. It is also approved for the treatment of severe, treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder in the European Union and Australia, and in the USA under an HDE.
The transaction is expected to meet Medtronic’s long-term financial metrics and does not impact fiscal year 2015 earnings guidance.
