Boston Scientific Invests In California Startup Amaranth Medical

Boston Scientific has invested in Mountain View, California firm Amaranth Medical, but it won't disclose the amount of the investment.

In a news release Tuesday, Amaranth announced that the funding from the Massachusetts device maker will be used to perform an overseas clinical trial that will test the Fortitude bioresorbable scaffold. The funds will also help in filing for the CE Mark in Europe as well as develop the next-generation product that will have thinner struts than any "currently available polymeric bioresorbable scaffold, the company said. 

"The clinical results generated from studies of the Fortitude scaffold to date have been impressive; we are excited to add Boston Scientific, a world leader in cardiovascular medicine, as a strategic investor," said Fred Schwarzer, executive chairman of the Amaranth Board of Directors, in the release.

At the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference Tuesday in San Francisco, Boston Scientific CEO Mike Mahoney described the investment as one made by the ventures group within Boston Scientific.

The technology is interesting , he said and would sit well with the company's Synergy drug-eluting stent that has a bioabsorbable polymer coating. Synergy received CE Mark in October, 2012. 

But Mahoney declined to provide financial details of the investment. 

Boston Scientific, like other medical device companies, is begining to work more with earlier stage startups than in the past. Many corporations like Covidien and Abbott have formal venture investing arms, while companies like Medtronic invest in promisiing startups without having a dedicated corporate venture capital entiry. 

-- By Arundhati Parmar, Senior Editor, MD+DI
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