Terumo Acquiring Aneurysm Device Maker for $280 Million

Made of braided Nitinol wires, Sequent Medical's device is meant to treat wide-neck intracranial bifurcation aneurysms.

Nancy Crotti

Tokyo-based Terumo Corp. plans to buy Sequent Medical--a California startup that makes an aneurysm embolization system,--for $280 million.

Sequent's WovenEndobridge (WEB) device is designed to treat wide-neck intracranial bifurcation aneurysms. Made of braided Nitinol wires, WEB received the CE Mark in 2010 and recently wrapped up recruiting patients for the U.S. study of the device. The privately held company was founded in 2007 in Aliso Viejo, CA, and has European operations in Bonn, Germany.

In addition to the purchase price, Terumo indicated it would pay up to $100 million more, based on the achievement of specific development or commercial milestones.

Terumo has products in most segments of the global neurovascular market, including embolization coils used to treat aneurysms, and related interventional devices and stents. The Sequent acquisition will give it access to the market for this new category of aneurysm embolization systems,referred to as intrasaccular flow disrupters. Terumo entered the neuro device market in 2006 by acquiring MicroVention, Inc. in California.

The Japanese company termed the Sequent acquisition a key element in a strategy to establish and expand its global presence in the neurovascular market and other rapidly growing markets. The company said it expectsnew aneurysm embolization devices to be substantial growth drivers within the overall medtech market.

Terumo also indicated the possibility of more M&A activity in the cardiology and endovascular markets.

Sequent CEO Thomas Wilder is a Medtronic veteran who also led PhotoThera, Inc. of Carlsbad, CA, from 2006 to 2009. The transcranial laser therapy company went bankrupt in 2013. Wilder was CEO of MicroTherapeutics, a publicly-held neurovascular tech company, from 2002 until it merged with ev3, Inc. in 2006. He was vice president and general manager of endovascular stent grafts at Medtronic when he left in 2002 after 11 years there.

Terumo, which has a strong cardiovascular business, acquired some of its assets in that area from 3M in 1999 and U.K.-based Vascutek Ltd in 2002. Since then, the company has acquired a handful of other cardiovascular firms, including MicroVention Inc., the heart valve division of Köhler Chemie GmbH, and Onset Medical Corp.

In 2014, the company made what was the biggest medtech acquisition by a Japanese firm, shelling out $2.6 billion for the U.S. firm CaridianBCT.

Pending regulatory approval, Terumo expects to complete the acquisition of Sequent in July or August 2016. 

Nancy Crotti is a contributor to Qmed.

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