Medtronic Inc., a medical device maker with a sizable operation in Santa Ana and a key rival to Irvine’s Edwards Lifesciences Corp., is dismissing speculation that it’s a takeover target.
Late last month, Art Collins, Medtronic’s chief executive, told shareholders that the company isn’t for sale, in spite of rumors that Johnson & Johnson is planning a bid.
Medtronic employs nearly 600 people at its plant in Santa Ana, which makes tissue heart valves.
At Medtronic’s annual meeting, Collins didn’t specifically address the J & J; discussion, which had cropped up in late August and has slightly boosted the Minneapolis-based device maker’s stock price.
A note issued on Aug. 21 by Credit Suisse First Boston evaluated the possibility of J & J; potentially buying Medtronic.
The New Brunswick, N.J.-based medical and consumer products maker lacks a heart rhythm offering,something that triggered its previous interest in buying Guidant Corp., which eventually was bought by Boston Scientific Corp. after a brief bidding war earlier this year.
Collins also talked about Medtronic’s recent price slide,shares of the device maker have fallen from about $60 in January to the mid $40s, which observers believed made it vulnerable to takeover talk.
Medtronic’s been hurt by weak sales of implantable cardioverter defibrillators, which are its largest product line, according to Collins.
The company is the market leader in pacemakers and defibrillators, ahead of St. Paul, Minn.-based St. Jude Medical Inc. in pacemaker sales and Boston Scientific in defibrillator sales.
Investors slammed the medical device sector earlier this year after thousands of implantable cardioverter defibrillators made by Guidant were recalled. Guidant has a plant near the county line in Temecula.
The sector also was hurt a bit by an ultimately unsuccessful proposal by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to cut reimbursements on medical devices used by hospitals.
Isotis Sells Dental Business
Isotis Orthobiologics Inc., an Irvine-based maker of bone graft substitutes, sold its dental business for $7.4 million to Keystone Dental Inc. of Burlington, Mass.
Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm, started keystone earlier this year.
The deal calls for Keystone to get the exclusive right to market and sell Isotis’ bone graft substitute products in the dentistry market. Isotis and Keystone also have a five-year manufacturing and supply pact.
“From a sales and marketing perspective, the dental business is fundamentally different from our core business, orthopedics,” said Pieter Wolters, Isotis’ chief executive, in a release.
The deal, according to Wolters, provides Isotis additional money to invest in the growth of its orthopedic business.
Earlier this summer, Isotis leased more than 43,000 square feet of space in Irvine next to its current offices on Goodyear and said it had plans to hire up to 40 workers.
Isotis’ primary market is orthopedic and spinal surgeons. Its products can be used for spinal fusion, trauma repair, joint revision and surgery for head and face fractures.
Telemedicine Showcased
The business of telemedicine is set to be examined Sept. 14 at “Telemedicine Comes of Age: Network Technology Supports a New Model of Care.”
The event is at the Calit2 Building on the University of California, Irvine, campus. The building is at the corner of East Peltason and Los Trancos drives.
Speakers include Michael Berns, founder of the Beckman Laser Institute at UCI; Ralph Clayman and Ira Lott, a pair of UCI professors, and Yulun Wang, chief executive and founder of InTouch Health Inc. of Santa Barbara.
Subjects include advances in wireless, high-speed Internet links, two-way video and wireless communications, which are expanding the boundaries of science and medicine.
Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear, in partnership with Calit2’s UCI division, sponsors the event. Knobbe Martens partner Gerard von Hoffmann III moderates. For registration and cost information, go to www.calit2.net/events/ignitingtechnology.
Bits and Pieces:
Fountain Valley Regional Hospital Medical Center, UCI Medical Center, Orange, and Huntington Beach Hospital are among the participating hospitals in a new bariatric surgery PPO network from Blue Shield of California. The network is made up of 32 bariatric surgeons and 16 facilities in Orange and eight other California counties ICU Medical Inc., San Clemente, introduced the Tego connector, a catheter protection device designed specifically for hemodialysis treatment usage. The Tego protects the catheter from contamination during hemodialysis, lowering the risk for bloodstream infections for patients Consumer-driven healthcare is being examined at two seminars this month. “Consumer-Driven Healthcare: The Time (Finally) Has Arrived” is the topic for the Life Science Industry Council’s Sept. 13 breakfast meeting at Mezzanine Restaurant in Irvine. Speakers include John Graham of the Pacific Research Institute and Dr. Richard McCauley, president of Thousand Oaks-based Doctors Wellness Co. Information: www.elinc.org. On Sept. 14, John Young, vice president, consumerism for Cigna Health Care, discusses “The Eye of the Storm,A Deeper Dive into Consumer Driven Healthcare” at the Orange County Employee Benefits Council’s monthly meeting. The event is at the Beckman Center at UCI. Information: www.ocebc.org.
