Boston Scientific to Buy Interventional Technologies

In a move designed to increase its market share in interventional cardiology, Boston Scientific Corp. (Natick, MA, USA) has agreed to acquire Interventional Technologies, Inc. (IVT, San Diego, CA, USA) for about US$345 million plus contingent payments. IVT's sales in 2000 were around $42 million, almost double its sales of the previous year. Fourth quarter sales jumped from $5.9 million in 1999 to $16.5 million in 2000.

IVT manufactures and markets minimally invasive devices for use in interventional cardiology. The company's flagship product is the Cutting Balloon catheter, which incorporates tiny, longitudinally mounted scalpels that help reduce resistance to expansion by the lesion. IVT says this contributes to less arterial trauma and injury compared to standard balloon angioplasty. The device's fold mechanism shields the scalpels and protects the vessel wall as the catheter is passed to and from the treatment site. To date, the Cutting Balloon catheter has been used in about 125,000 procedures. Last year, it was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"The Cutting Balloon has the potential, over time, to revolutionize how we treat coronary and peripheral artery disease,” said Jim Tobin, president and CEO of Boston Scientific. "Its unique operating mechanism may serve as a platform for developing a range of improved therapies.”



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