Boston Scientific Acquires Millipede

December 27, 2018—Boston Scientific Corporation announced that it has acquired Millipede, Inc., a privately held company in Santa Rosa, California, in an approximately $325 million deal.

Millipede is the developer of the Iris transcatheter annuloplasty ring for the treatment of mitral regurgitation (MR). The Iris system uses a complete annuloplasty ring to reduce the size of a patient’s mitral annulus. It is designed to be used with a transseptal delivery system as a stand-alone device or in combination with other technologies in patients with severe MR.

In January of this year, the company announced a $90 million investment into Millipede, with an acquisition option agreement for $325 million and an additional $125 million milestone payment.

The decision to acquire Millipede was based on the completion of a first-in-human clinical study, and the addition of the Iris will expand Boston Scientific’s structural heart portfolio, according to the company.

In Boston Scientific’s announcement, Ian Meredith, Global Chief Medical Officer of Boston Scientific, commented, “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 MR in patients with progressive heart failure. 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.”

According to the company, the acquisition is expected to close during the first quarter of 2019 and to be dilutive to earnings per share (EPS) for each of the next several years. All dilutive impact is expected to be absorbed via internal trade-offs, with no net adjusted EPS impact.