Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Boston Scientific leads $11M brain injury therapy funding

By Mass High Tech Staff

Natick medical devices firm Boston Scientific Corp. has led an investment of at least $11 million in Cleveland, Ohio-based Intelect Medical Inc., a developer of treatments for traumatic brain injury. The investment, between expected to be between $11 million and $13.5 million, also generated support from medical product developer Greatbatch Inc. Intelect Medical said it plans to invest the funds into deep brain stimulation used in traumatic brain injury recovery treatment being studied in Europe and stroke recovery treatment being tested in the U.S.

In return for its investment, Boston Medical will receive a co-exclusive license to Intelect’s deep brain stimulation software called Dimension Visual Programming Software. The software is designed to show changes in brain stimulation as a result of electrical parameter adjustments.

In October, Boston Scientific reported relatively stable third quarter earnings, but greater variability, compared to the same time period in 2007, for its market share of drug-eluting coronary stents and implantable cardioverter defibrillators. Third quarter worldwide sales of coronary stents in 2008 netted the company $396 million, down from 2007’s stent sales of $448 million for the same time period. In worldwide sales of Boston Scientific’s cardiac rhythm management, third quarter worldwide sales in 2008 brought in $572 million -- an increase of 11 percent over 2007 worldwide sales of $517 million.

Boston Scientific, a global developer, manufacturer and distributor of medical devices, reported a 2007 net loss of $495 million on revenue of $8.4 billion. The firm employed 27,500 workers worldwide as of December 2007.