GE HealthCare, days after establishing itself as an independent company, agreed to acquire France-based IMACTIS, which uses computed tomography (CT) interventional guidance to aid surgeons in minimally invasive operations.
Neither company provided the terms of the agreement. GE HealthCare said it will fund the transaction with cash on hand.
IMACTIS was founded in 2009 by Stephane Lavallee and Lionel Carrat, who created CT-Navigation, which uses CT to guide needles from diagnosis to treatment in a wide range of procedures.
In an interview last month, GE HealthCare CEO Pete Arduini told MedTech Dive that “M&A has been and always will be an important part of [our] strategy.” adding that “Now, we’re starting to see fruits of that activity, which started years ago.”
The IMACTIS CT-Navigation system is designed to improve workflow for interventional radiologists and hospitals by increasing procedural accuracy, while helping to reduce procedure time and radiation dose for patients and physicians, Jan Makela, CEO of imaging at GE HealthCare, said in a statement.
Makela called it “an innovative navigation solution for image-guided percutaneous procedures” that can improve patient outcomes by reducing variability and “improving reproducibility.”
GE HealthCare’s market access helped drive the sale, according to IMACTIS CEO Pierre Olivier.
“Our product development team also sees significant opportunities to integrate our hardware and software into GE HealthCare solutions,” he said.
“Interventional CT capabilities are considered a top purchase driver in the performance and premium CT segments, making it a high opportunity growth driver in the 2022-2026 period,” GE HealthCare said in the statement.
The company said it plans to expand the technology to its image-guided therapy business to “drive further growth” as demand for the product grows in care areas including oncology, cardiology, urology, nephrology and gastroenterology.
The IMACTIS CT-Navigation currently is approved under the European Union’s Medical Devices Regulation and has clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for use in the U.S.
