Medtronic Buys Wearable Sensor Startup Corventis For $150 Million
By Jof Enriquez,
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Recent speculation indicates that Medtronic, Inc. will acquire Corventis Inc. for around $150 million.
According to a report by MobiHealthNews, the exact amount of the acquisition is yet to be disclosed, but the deal is reportedly in its final stages. A formal announcement is not expected for at least a few more weeks.
So far, neither company has offered any insight on the potential deal.
“While Medtronic is always investigating ways to strengthen the company that align with our business and financial goals, it is our policy to not comment on speculation about mergers and acquisitions,” the company said in a statement quoted by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
According to MobiHealthNews, Corventis and Medtronic have had no previous affiliation aside from a trademark dispute last year involving each company’s Novent devices.
“In all likelihood Corventis will be bolted onto Medtronic’s Cardiocom home health monitoring and disease management business,” according to MobiHealthNews. Cardiocom was acquired by Medtronic last year for $200 million. Medtronic is likely planning to incorporate Corventis’ fluid sensor technology into Cardiocom’s remote monitoring capabilities.
Corventis makes the Piix wearable sensor that can detect signs of heart failure. The Band-Aid-like, water-proof, wireless device is attached to the chest and monitors heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, fluid levels and patient activity. The patch was granted FDA approval in 2009.
The Piix sensor is the data collection module for Corventis’ Nuvant Mobile Cardiac Telemetry (MCT) System, cleared by the FDA in 2010. The system allows continuous arrhythmia detection and remote ECG reviews by technicians, according to the product’s website.
Piix is also used in another related, FDA-approved product by Corventis, the Avivo Mobile Patient Management (MPM) System, which is used to wirelessly transmit physiologic data of patients with end-stage renal disease, heart failure, and cardiac rhythm abnormalities.
Both Avivo and Nuvant use Corventis’ zLink wireless transmission system and Corventis Monitoring System to generate ECG reports and notify physicians.