St. Jude Medical Completes $123.5 Million Deal for Nanostim

   By Ben Fox Rubin 
 

St. Jude Medical Inc. (STJ) completed its purchase of Nanostim Inc., a closely held maker of wireless pacemakers, providing the medical-device company with a less invasive pacemaker design.

The company paid $123.5 million for Nanostim, and the deal provides up to $65 million in additional cash payments contingent on certain revenue-based milestones.

The Nanostim pacemaker is delivered using a steerable catheter through the femoral vein, eliminating the need to surgically create a pocket for the pacemaker and insulated wires--called leads--that historically have been recognized as the most vulnerable component of pacing systems, St. Jude said.

The Nanostim leadless pacemaker also is less than 10% the size of a conventional pacemaker.

The device recently received CE Mark approval in Europe and will be available soon in some markets there. It also received U.S. Food and Drug Administration conditional approval for its investigational device exemption application and pivotal clinical trial protocol to begin evaluating Nanostim leadless technology in the U.S.

St. Jude has struggled in recent years as the economic downturn led to pricing pressures in the U.S. and Europe and some consumers delaying medical treatment. Meanwhile, the company's implanted defibrillators--representing a third of total revenue--suffered as critics raised doubts about the safety of a key product component.

In the second quarter, St. Jude's total sales fell but still exceeded Wall Street analysts' projections. The results were driven almost entirely by the company's line of implanted defibrillators and pacemakers, which handily beat projections despite safety concerns.

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