Medifocus Buys Prolieve Back from Boston Scientific Medifocus Inc. has completed the purchase of al

Medifocus Buys Prolieve Back from Boston Scientific
Medifocus Inc. has completed the purchase of all Prolieve business assets from Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific Corp. Prolieve is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), which is caused by the enlargement of the male prostate gland and affects more than 50 percent of men older than the age of 50. The symptoms of BPH range from weak urinary stream and frequent urgency to the total inability to urinate.

Prolieve is a patent protected device that uses intra-cavitary catheters to deliver a combination of microwave heating and balloon dilatation of the prostatic urethra, designed to relieve BPH symptoms. Treatment with Prolieve is a minimally invasive non-surgical in-office procedure that offers patients clinically documented immediate reduction of BPH symptom scores. Prolieve is the only microwave device to be randomized to drug therapy during its pivotal trial. According to Medifocus, the BPH drug market is valued at $8 billion and growing. The Prolieve treatment also is available to physicians using a nationwide mobile service provider, Rocky Mountain Mobile Services, which was part of the asset purchase.

Prolieve was developed by Celsion Corp.—a company that develops cancer treatments—and Boston Scientific acquired the device in 2007. In 2008, following a $2 million acquisition, Celsion became a wholly owned subsidiary of Medifocus, merging management teams and assets. Brining Prolieve to Medifocus puts the technology back in the hands of those who developed it.

The acquisition—whose terms were not disclosed—gives Medifocus total control over all Prolieve hardware inventories as well as the intellectual property portfolio associated with the device. The device design is based on a platform technology from which other disposable microwave heating catheters for other deep-seated anatomical sites also can be developed.

“The purchase of the Prolieve business assets is a significant business enhancement event for Medifocus,” said Augustine Y. Cheung, Ph.D., founder, president and CEO of Medifocus. “With Prolieve, Medifocus now transforms from a development stage cancer treatment medical device company to a mature medical treatment systems and devices company with a revenue-generating commercial product for treatment of BPH and an innovative focused-heat breast cancer treatment system in advanced Phase III clinical development. Using the Prolieve technology platform and the APA focused-heat platform, the Company is well positioned to develop a rich pipeline of minimally invasive and side effect-free focused-heat treatment systems and devices for cancer and other diseases.”

Medifocus is based in Columbia, Md. The company develops and commercializes minimally invasive, focused-heat tumor-targeted cancer treatment devices and systems.

Boston Scientific provides technology in the cardiology, endoscopy, urology, women’s health and neuromodulation sectors.