HQ Team
August 20, 2024: Johnson & Johnson plans to acquire Israel’s privately-held V-Wave Ltd., for an upfront payment of $600 million, according to a statement from the US-based company.
The total acquisition cost will amount to $1.1 billion Johnson and Johnson with the potential for additional regulatory and commercial milestone payments. V-Wave will join Johnson & Johnson as part of Johnson & Johnson MedTech.
The transaction is expected to close before the end of 2024.
V-Wave develops shunts for people living with heart failure and cardiovascular disease. Its cardiovascular implant technology specifically targets heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).
Implant device
In HFrEF, a patient’s heart muscle has insufficient ability to pump blood containing oxygen and nutrients to the body.
V-Wave’s Ventura Interatrial Shunt — an implantable device designed to decrease elevated left atrial pressure seen in congestive heart failure by creating a shunt between the left and right atrium — reduces cardiovascular events and heart failure hospitalizations.
A shunt is a hole or a small passage that allows the movement of fluid from one part of the body to another.
The planned acquisition of V-Wave will extend Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s position as an innovation leader in addressing cardiovascular disease, according to the statement.
Minimally invasive
It will further accelerate its shift into high-growth and high-opportunity markets and will deepen its relationships with structural interventional cardiologists and heart failure specialists.
Heart failure is associated with impaired quality of life, frequent hospitalizations, increasing healthcare costs, and high rates of premature death.
V-Wave’s device is placed in the heart through a minimally invasive catheter-based procedure and has the potential to fill a significant treatment gap between guideline-directed medical therapies as first-line therapy and highly invasive cardiac replacement therapies.
‘Pivotal stage’
This includes left ventricular assist devices and heart transplantation. It will address an unmet need for approximately 800,000 patients who experience HFrEF in the US every year.
“We know V-Wave well, with our relationship dating back to our original investment in the company in 2016, and we have a deep understanding of the technology and science, as well as the company’s commitment to patients,” said Tim Schmid, Executive Vice President and Worldwide Chairman of Johnson & Johnson MedTech.
“We look forward to working with the V-Wave team at this pivotal stage of its evolution to bring the Ventura InteHFrEFratrial Shunt technology to patients.”
