Johnson & Johnson to Acquire V-Wave

August 20, 2024—Johnson & Johnson announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire V-Wave Ltd., a privately-held developer of treatments for patients with heart failure.
V-Wave’s cardiovascular implant technology targets heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

V-Wave will join Johnson & Johnson as part of Johnson & Johnson MedTech. Michael Bodner, Group President, Heart Recovery & Intravascular Lithotripsy, will assume responsibility for the V-Wave team upon the close of the transaction.

Under the terms of the agreement, Johnson & Johnson will acquire V-Wave for an upfront payment of $600 million, subject to customary adjustments, with the potential for additional regulatory and commercial milestone payments up to approximately $1.1 billion. The transaction is expected to close before the end of 2024, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Johnson & Johnson stated that the planned acquisition will deepen its relationships with structural interventional cardiologists and heart failure specialists.

According to the press release, V-Wave’s Ventura interatrial shunt (IAS) is an implantable device designed to decrease elevated left atrial pressure in congestive heart failure. The device creates a shunt between the left and right atrium, thereby reducing cardiovascular events and heart failure hospitalizations.

The Ventura IAS, which is placed in the heart through a transcatheter procedure, has the potential to fill the gap between guideline-directed medical therapies as a first-line therapy and highly invasive cardiac replacement therapies, including left ventricular assist devices and heart transplantation. The Ventura IAS received FDA Breakthrough Device designation in 2019. In 2020, it received CE Mark approval, noted Johnson & Johnson.