J&J’s Ethicon Divests Its Breast Care Business Who said venture capital funds in the de

J&J’s Ethicon Divests Its Breast Care Business

Who said venture capital funds in the device sector are dead? Devicor Medical Products, Inc., owned by private equity firm GTCR, purchased Ethicon Endo-Surgery’s Breast Care business. Ethicon is a division of global device giant Johnson & Johnson. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The business sells products designed to help doctors diagnose breast cancer at early stages while minimizing patient discomfort. Going forward, the former J&J property will be called Mammotome, a division of Devicor Medical Products, Inc.

Ethicon’s breast care product portfolio is sold in 50 countries around the world and includes the Mammotome Breast Biopsy System and tissue markers (MammoMARK, MicroMARK, and CorMARK) used for breast disease diagnostic sampling and management. As part of the agreement, Devicor also acquired marketing and distribution rights for Neoprobe Gamma
Detection Systems.

Mammotome’s corporate headquarters will be located in Sharonville, Ohio, where it has leased 30,000 square feet of office space in the Summit Woods Office Park. Recently, the company was awarded a 60 percent job creation tax credit for seven years, valued at $1.5 million, from the Ohio Department of Development. Approximately 300 former Ethicon employees supporting the business will transfer to Devicor

The new owners’ growth plans also include adding more than 150 jobs worldwide, of which approximately 70 positions will be located at the corporate headquarters. In addition, Mammotome plans to build a new manufacturing plant in the next 12-18 months.

“The acquisition of the Breast Care business is a key component in achieving our objective of building a leading medical device business,” said Dean Mihas, principal
of GTCR.

Devicor is a newly formed company focusing on minimally invasive medical procedures, with an initial focus on the vacuum assisted breast biopsy market. Founded in 1980, Chicago, Ill.-based GTCR is a private equity firm focused on investing in growth companies in the financial services, healthcare and information services industries. In the past 30 years, GTCR has invested more than $8 billion in more than 200 companies.