Boston Sci Closes Acquisition of Medtronic’s Neuromodulation Foe

Boston Scientific has closed on its $3.7 billion acquisition of Axonics.

The Marlborough, MA-based company first announced the deal in January. Axonics develops devices to treat urinary and bowel dysfunction.

"Over the last decade, it has been impressive to see the meaningful innovations Axonics has delivered for patients with overactive bladder and incontinence," said Meghan Scanlon, senior VP and president, of Urology, Boston Scientific. "By closing this acquisition, we're pleased to welcome the Axonics team into Boston Scientific. The addition of the Axonics product portfolio enables us to expand into sacral neuromodulation, a high-growth adjacency for our Urology business while bringing a comprehensive portfolio of products to patients around the world who are seeking tailored treatment options based on their life stage and incontinence severity."

Axonics has been in a longstanding patent feud with Medtronic, a company considered the pioneer of the SNM market with the InterStim. Axonics won FDA approval in 2019 for a rechargeable version of a similar device.

The market incumbent almost immediately filed a lawsuit against Axonics, alleging infringement on certain claims in seven patents related to Medtronic's SNM lead placement procedure and implant recharging technologies.

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Axonics filed seven petitions with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office requesting an inter partes review of each of the Medtronic patents in question.

In September 2020, the Patent Trial and Review Board (PTAB) decided to review the validity of six of the seven Medtronic patents in question. However, the PTAB decided not to institute a review of one of the patents — (U.S. Patent No. 9,463,324 ('324 patent) — because there was not a reasonable likelihood that any of the claims in that particular patent would be found to be invalid. According to Medtronic, the '324 patent protects key technology related to implant recharging and temperature control and is central to the infringement case against Axonics.

In September 2021, the PTAB upheld three of the patents Axonics challenged.

In August 2023, a federal judge ruled that the PTAB had errored in Medtronic's favor by refusing to consider new arguments from Axonics after the board adopted an interpretation of the patents' terms that Medtronic submitted. The court also reopened Axonics' challenges to two other Medtronic patents at a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tribunal in July 2023.

In September, a jury in California federal court found that the Irvine, CA-based company didn’t infringe on Medtronic’s three patents related to neurostimulation technology.

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