Boston Scientific plans to fully acquire stent developer Veniti—which it already owns 25% of—by buying up the remaining stake in the startup for $108 million upfront, plus up to $52 million pending FDA approval of its Vici system for vein obstructions, which it aims to pair with its AngioJet thrombectomy platform to offer both chronic and acute venous disease treatments in its pipeline.
The medtech giant has invested in Fremont, California-based Veniti since 2016 and previously agreed to globally distribute its venous, self-expanding, nickel-titanium alloy stent, which received a CE mark in 2013.
Veniti submitted its premarket approval application to the FDA in June, after completing a five-year study of 200 patients. It was helped across the finish line with $25 million in funding from Boston Scientific through a series D round in 2016.
“With the unique benefits of this differentiated technology and the strong experience of Boston Scientific in the overall venous market, we believe the Vici stent will become an important choice for physicians who choose stents to treat patients suffering from venous disease,” said Jeff Mirviss, president of peripheral interventions at Boston Scientific, in a release.
The most common form of venous obstructive disease is deep vein thrombosis, which the CDC says affects up to 900,000 Americans each year. An NIH-sponsored study last year found that a subset of patients could benefit from a combination of procedure-based interventions and anticoagulant drugs.
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“This stent system was designed with the distinctive demands of the venous system in mind, and built to provide physicians with a high-quality lumen across a variety of venous anatomies and disease states,” said Veniti President and CEO Jeff Elkins in the release. The companies described the Vici system as being able to withstand compression and maintain flexibility over a patient’s lifetime.
“We are excited to see this stent technology become even more accessible to physicians and the patients they treat under the leadership of Boston Scientific,” Elkins said. In the U.S., no stents are currently specifically indicated for use in the peripheral venous system, the companies added.
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Boston Scientific has been on a tear of multimillion-dollar acquisitions since the start of the year—committing to at least $1.8 billion in deals across different product divisions—including structural and heart rhythm interventions, cancer detection and treatment, and urology.