Terumo Buys Onset Medical Corp.

Terumo Medical Corp., the U.S. subsidiary of the Japanese firm Terumo Corp., has purchased Irvine, Calif.-based Onset Medical Corp., a maker of sheath technology used in minimally invasive cardiology and urology procedures.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Onset’s sheaths, using what the company calls its Controlled Deployment Technology (CDT), are designed to provide surgeons minimally invasive surgical access to perform procedures such as valve repairs or implants, or kidney stone removals, thus limiting the risk of excess trauma or other complications. Terumo already has its own line of sheaths and other access devices. However, according to Terumo leadership, there isn’t any overlap in current product lines, and the acquisition is a good fit because Onset’s products are additive to Terumo’s current product line.

Onset will become part of Terumo Medical Corporation as part of its Terumo Interventional Systems (TIS) business unit, where the CDT platform will add to Terumo’s line of entry-site management and lesion access technologies. Onset will remain in California. The company says not jobs are planned for downsizing.

Terumo customers will have access to Onset’s complete product lines.
Onset’s SoloPath Balloon Expandable Transfemoral and Transseptal Catheters’ expandable and collapsable sheath technology provides TIS entry into the global structural heart and aneurysmal repair markets, providing an access platform for complex, large-bore procedures including transcatheter aortic valve implantation, thoracic endovascular aortic/aneurysm repair, and endovascular aneurysm/aortic repair. The Pathway Balloon Expandable PCNL Sheath and the Balloon Expandable Ureteral Access Sheath are tools to perform procedures such as percutaneous nephrolithotomy in the removal of large kidney stones.

“We welcome Onset to the Terumo family and look forward to providing our customers with current and future products based on the exciting CDT platform, which represents a tremendous complement to our overall value proposition as the leaders in entry site management and lesion access,” said James Rushworth, senior vice president and general manager of Terumo Medical Corporation.

Rushworth also will become president of Onset Medical.

“CDT literally changes the way physicians enter the vascular system and manage the access site, while allowing them to achieve easier, safer access to the target lesion in a variety of clinical applications,” he added. “This strategic acquisition reinforces our commitment to pursuing unique technologies that meet the specialized needs of our customers and contribute to better outcomes for their patients.”

Onsite execs said the Terumo offers seemed like a good fit.

“When Terumo approached us, it quickly became clear that they were the established leader in entry site management and the best company to commercialize our sheath technology on a global scale,” said Joseph Bishop, vice president and chief operating officer of Onset Medical Corporation. “It is gratifying to know that our unique devices will immediately strengthen their core capability and will be featured prominently among other class-leading technologies that drive better patient outcomes.”

Terumo Interventional Systems (TIS) offers a full line of guidewires, catheters, introducer sheaths, guiding sheaths and embolization products for use in a multitude of different interventional procedures. Terumo Medica’s U.S. base is in Somerset, N.J.