When Raymond Cohen saw an ad for his company Axonics Inc. play on national television during a run of Jeopardy!, it was a surreal moment for him. He never imagined one of his business ventures gaining the national spotlight.
In the commercial, a patient named Jill said the company’s implantable device that treats incontinence gave her control of her body again.
“We all want to be successful, but if you can do it by helping restore the quality of somebody’s life, what better endeavor could there be?” Cohen told the Business Journal.
The commercial is just the tip of the iceberg on Cohen’s 40-year career leading medical device companies such Axonics. He co-founded the company in 2012 and took it public in 2018. The startup generated more than $100 million in sales in its first year of commercialization.
The company’s success soon led to a host of suitors. Cohen is now overseeing the company’s $3.7 billion sale to Boston Scientific Corp.
The Jan. 8 acquisition was announced the same day the Business Journal named Cohen its Businessperson of the Year in the healthcare sector. The sale is expected to close in November, according to Cohen.
On Sept. 12, Cohen was one of five honored at the Business Journal’s Innovator of the Year Awards at the Irvine Marriott.
“The true impact of this innovation is seen in the lives of over 100,000 patients,” said Shelley Hoss, CEO of Orange County Community Foundation, when presenting the award to Cohen.
Cohen scored another victory last week when a jury returned a unanimous verdict in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by larger rival Medtronic in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
“As we have said since this case was first filed in late 2019, our view is that Medtronic’s lawsuit was initiated to stifle competition, limit patient and physician choice, and protect the incumbent’s monopoly in sacral neuromodulation,” Cohen said in a statement after the verdict.
Secret to Success
This isn’t Cohen’s first company that he’s led to a successful sale.
In 2010, Cohen restarted Vessix Vascular, a device maker of products that treat hypertension, and sold it to Boston Scientific for more than $200 million two years later.
He said the key to his success lies in finding underserved markets with minimal competition.
“Don’t get stuck on a particular path,” Cohen said. “Be open to reading the tea leaves and be willing to pivot.”
Cohen co-founded Axonics in March 2012 under the name American Restorative Medicine Inc. In August 2013, the company’s name was changed to Axonics. The original intent of the company was to focus on pain treatment.
After about six months of market research and interviews with physicians and patients, however, the company saw a larger opportunity in treating incontinence.
Axonics has since topped national lists for Deloitte Technology Fast 500 in 2021 and the Financial Times’ 500 fastest-growing companies in the Americas in 2022.
Boston Scientific Sale
The decision to go with Boston Scientific was partly based on the company’s leadership.
CEO Michael “Mike” Mahoney is a “good match culturally” for Axonics and its employees, Cohen said.
Boston Scientific, which reported $14.2 billion in sales last year, said Axonics will be “highly accretive” to its urology business.
“We are excited to add Axonics technologies to the Boston Scientific portfolio, a combination that we expect will further strengthen our ability to serve urologists who are treating patients living with these often-chronic conditions,” said Meghan Scanlon, senior vice president of the urology unit.
Cohen previously told the Business Journal that he received offers to buy Axonics but turned them down. But the timing now seemed right.
He didn’t want to wait around for the next “black swan event,” referring to COVID-19, which hit three and a half months after Axonics began commercialization and almost killed the company.
The rise of GLP-1 weight loss drugs also negatively impacted shares of medical device makers due to investor anxiety about the new class of medication.
“We pay close attention to these kinds of things,” Cohen said. “We felt it was important to secure the future for the company and for the people.”
The Future of Axonics
Cohen, who turned 65 this year, said he’ll be exiting Axonics when the sales closes. He wants to focus on the boards of medical device companies he serves on. He also wants to help employees who choose to not continue with Axonics post-transition and “find a good home.”
“If part of my legacy could be that there are people that I’ve worked with for a long time, did good things together and then go on to be successful on their own, I mean, it just doesn’t get any better than that,” Cohen said.
He’s currently active on the boards of BiVACOR, a clinical-stage company developing a total artificial heart, as well as maker of cardiac diagnostic and monitoring devices Kestra Medical.
Cohen expects most of Axonics’ 900 employees to remain with the company following the close of the deal save for himself and a “handful of other C-level people.”
He also said Axonics will remain in Irvine, something that he’s proud of.
“We’re right here in Irvine, California with great jobs for Orange County residents,” Cohen said.
Last April, the company signed a 10-year lease to relocate its headquarters to a 150,000-square-feet facility at Sand Canyon Business Center. It was the largest new local office lease of 2023.
