St. Jude Medical to Acquire Irvine Biomedical

In a move to increase its portfolio of rhythm disorder devices, St. Jude Medical, Inc. (St. Paul, MN, USA) has agreed to acquire Irvine Biomedical, Inc. (IBI, Irvine, CA, USA) for about U.S.$47 million. IBI products are distributed by St. Jude Medical in Japan.

As a result of its acquisition of Getz Bros. Co., Ltd. in Japan, St. Jude assumed a 14% ownership in IBI that had been acquired by Getz earlier. St. Jude is now acquiring the remaining 86% of IBI. The agreement includes incentive payments of up to $13 million to the non-St. Jude shareholders if IBI receives approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of certain electrophysiology catheters (EPs) by specified dates.

Irvine Biomedical was founded in 1995 to pursue innovative technologies to treat cardiovascular disease, with a focus on developing medical devices for EP procedures. These procedures are used to diagnose and treat tachycardias. IBI products currently in development include EP catheter ablation systems that use radio frequency and ultrasound energy.

"Our acquisition of IBI builds on our recent announcement that we are creating an Atrial Fibrillation Division,” explained Daniel J. Starks, chairman, president, and CEO of St. Jude Medical.





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