Dive Brief:
- Boston Scientific has agreed to buy renal denervation firm Sonivie for up to $540 million, adding yet another acquisition to the company’s growing M&A list.
- Boston Scientific, which owns about a 10% equity stake in Sonivie, will make an upfront payment of approximately $360 million for the remaining 90% stake and offer up to $180 million in a regulatory milestone payment, according to the Monday announcement. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025.
- Over the past year, Boston Scientific has been one of the medtech industry’s biggest spenders. The company’s deal-making spree includes buying Axonics for $3.7 billion, Silk Road Medical for about $1.28 billion and Bolt Medical for up to $664 million.
Dive Insight:
Renal denervation is a catheter-based procedure that uses energy to destroy nerves in the kidney to reduce activity and lower blood pressure. Medtronic has estimated that 1% penetration of the market would be equal to about $1 billion, and analysts picked renal denervation as a top space to watch in the medtech industry in 2025.
Medtronic expects the renal denervation space to take off in the coming years after the device maker and Recor Medical received Food and Drug Administration approvals for their respective systems. The catalyst could come from anticipated Medicare coverage expansion. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began a national Medicare coverage analysis for renal denervation in January, with completion expected in October.
Sonivie’s device, called the Tivus system, uses ultrasound energy rather than radiofrequency energy to ablate renal nerves. Boston Scientific, in the announcement, argued that ultrasound energy can potentially penetrate tissue more deeply, which could result in faster procedures. Recor Medical’s device also uses ultrasound energy, while Medtronic’s uses radiofrequency.
“We aren’t surprised to see activity in the space following Medtronic’s and ReCor’s approvals last year in this very large market with few alternative treatments,” J.P. Morgan analysts wrote Monday in a note to investors. The analysts added that the deal validates the renal denervation market overall and shows that “fast followers aren’t that far behind, now that the initial market entrants have done the difficult jobs and laid the groundwork for approval and reimbursement.”
Tivus is currently an investigational technology. Sonivie recently began a global investigational device exemption pivotal trial of the device, according to the release.
