The OpSens OptoWire is a pressure guidewire that uses a fiber optic sensor to assess stenoses in vessels, such as coronary arteries. [Image: OpSens Inc.]
The US-based global medical technology firm Haemonetics Corporation announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Canadian medical device company OpSens, Inc. Haemonetics will buy all outstanding shares of OpSens for CA$2.90 per share. The all-cash transaction, which Haemonetics expects to close by January 2024, represents a total equity value of about CA$345 million (US$253 million).
Optical tech for the heart
OpSens focuses primarily on optical technology for use in interventional cardiology. One of the company’s core products is the OptoWire, a pressure guidewire designed to help in the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease. It uses a patented fiber optic sensor to measure physiologic indices including fractional flow reserve and diastolic pressure ratio.
Another draw for Haemonetics was the recently released SavvyWire, an optical-sensor–based device for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures. OpSens describes SavvyWire as a “minimalist solution” that integrates three important functions for TAVR, including acting as a guidewire, delivering continuous hemodynamic (blood flow) measurements and providing efficient left ventricle pacing, which is a method used to ensure correct heart rhythm. Haemonetics noted in a press release that the acquisition could make SavvyWire “the leading guidewire for TAVR procedures in the US.”
Strategic benefits
According to Haemonetics, the newly acquired technology will help the company expand its hospital business unit portfolio in interventional cardiology, which the firm believes represents a total addressable market of about US$1 billion. Haemonetics said that it expects both short- and long-term financial benefits, including “immediate accretive effects” on revenue growth and adjusted earnings per share.
Haemonetics said that it expects both short- and long-term financial benefits.
OpSens said in a press release that combining its expertise in fiber optic sensing technology with Haemonetics’ extensive commercial and manufacturing infrastructure will provide more patients with access to the devices, including in high-growth international markets. Integrating OpSens technology with some of Haemonetics’ other, related offerings could also help advance cardiology procedures with the goal of allowing patients to spend less time in the hospital, even leaving the same day.
“By leveraging OpSens' proprietary optical sensor technology, our global commercial infrastructure, and our relationships with the top US hospitals performing TAVR and PCI [percutaneous coronary intervention] procedures, we have a powerful opportunity to improve standards of care for more physicians and patients worldwide,” said Stewart Strong, president of Haemonetics’ global hospital business unit.