Medtronic to Acquire Affera

Medtronic began a deal to acquire Affera Inc., a Boston-based designer and manufacturer of cardiac mapping and navigation systems and catheter-based cardiac ablation technologies. Affera also offers a focal pulsed field ablation solution for arrhythmia, including AFib. Medtronic has been a strategic investor in Affera and current has a 3 percent ownership stake in the company.
 
Affera’s Prism-1 cardiac mapping and navigation platform and Sphere-9 cardiac ablation catheter are investigational technologies to enable rapid map creation for electrophysiologists (EP) to diagnose arrhythmias and deliver ablation therapy.
 
“The EP ablation market is an exciting and fast-moving segment of cardiology,” Rebecca Seidel, president of Medtronic’s Cardiac Ablation Solutions (CAS) business told the press. “Bringing Affera into our organization, with our established footprint in the cardiac ablation space, will strengthen our ability to provide innovative therapies and enable Medtronic entry into additional EP technology segments, such as mapping and navigation, for the first time.”
 
“Affera offers technologies that support physician customers as they work to improve clinical workflows, procedural efficiencies, and ultimately optimize patient care,” said Stacy Beske, Ph.D., vice president of strategy, CAS.
 
The EP ablation market is valued at $8 billion and cardiac arrhythmia prevalence is growing rapidly. There is a need to provide treatment to the increasing patient population, which encompasses AFib, supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), and ventricular tachycardia (VT).
 
“This is an exciting day for patients who suffer from the burden of AFib and other arrhythmias. This acquisition directly aligns with our vision of delivering novel solutions to address the rapidly growing demands for cardiac arrhythmia treatment,” said Doron Harlev, founder and CEO of Affera. “We are excited to focus on the integration of our technology with Medtronic and are confident that together we can increase patient access to ablation therapies.”
 
Affera completed its SPHERE PerAF Trial in December. The IDT trial evaluated the Affera systems to treat persistent AFib. The company’s product portfolio isn’t currently approved or available for commercial use.
 
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of Medtronic’s fiscal year 2023. Financial terms were no disclosed.