Boston Scientific Corporation announced it has closed an investment and entered into an acquisition option agreement with Millipede, Inc., a privately-held company that has developed the IRIS Transcatheter Annuloplasty Ring System for the treatment of severe mitral regurgitation (MR). Under the terms of the agreements, Boston Scientific has purchased a portion of the outstanding shares of Millipede along with newly issued shares of the company for a total consideration of $90M. Boston Scientific has the option to acquire the remaining shares of the company at any time prior to the completion of a first in human clinical study that meets certain parameters. Upon the completion of the clinical study, Millipede has the option to compel Boston Scientific to acquire the remaining shares of the company. Each company’s option period expires by the end of 2019. Completion of this acquisition would result in an additional $325M payment by Boston Scientific at closing with a further $125M becoming payable upon achievement of a commercial milestone.
MR is caused by a leaking mitral valve, which then causes blood to regurgitate from the left ventricle to the left atrium of the heart. Over time, the condition can lead to or accelerate heart failure and heart rhythm problems. Many patients with severe MR have compromised heart function and are not able to tolerate open-heart surgery to repair or replace the leaking valve. This large and currently underserved patient population could benefit from a fully-percutaneous transcatheter procedure that can repair the dilated mitral annulus and reduce regurgitation without undergoing surgery.
“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,” said Professor Ian Meredith, AM, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Medical Officer, Boston Scientific. “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 Millipede IRIS annuloplasty ring, delivered via a transcatheter-transseptal delivery system, follows the standard surgical approach to repair and reduce the size of a dilated mitral annulus. The IRIS device is a complete ring designed to be used as a stand-alone device, or in combination with other technologies in patients with severe MR. The device is designed to be highly customizable to a specific patient’s anatomy and disease state, and is repositionable and retrievable to promote a high-quality outcome.
“We saw an opportunity to bring the gold-standard surgical approach to repairing the mitral valve to an underserved population of severe MR patients with transcatheter techniques, and are excited Boston Scientific also sees the unique abilities of the IRIS transcatheter ring,” said Joe Cunningham, MD, Chairman of the Board, Millipede, Inc. and Managing Director of Santé Ventures.
Millipede is based in Santa Rosa, California. It was founded in 2012 by majority investor Santé Ventures and Steve Bolling, MD, and has been led by CEO and Co-founder Randy Lashinski since 2014.
