CardioMEMS Acquired by St. Jude Medical

ATLANTA, June 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Arcapita Ventures announced today that CardioMEMS, Inc. has been acquired by St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE: STJ)  a global medical device company headquartered in St. Paul, MN.  St. Jude Medical had previously invested $60 million for 19 percent ownership of CardioMEMS and has now exercised its exclusive option to purchase the remaining 81 percent of the company in a transaction valued in excess of $450 million.

CardioMEMS, Inc., an Atlanta-based privately held company founded by cardiologist and entrepreneur Dr. Jay Yadav, has pioneered miniature wireless implants for heart failure.  The CHAMPION (CardioMEMS Heart Sensor Allows Monitoring of Pressure to Improve Outcomes in NYHA Class III Patients) trial met its primary efficacy endpoint with a 28% reduction in heart failure hospitalization rates at 6 months (p<0.001) and 37% at 15 months in heart failure patients whose treatment was guided by pulmonary artery pressures obtained through the CardioMEMS HF System.

The CardioMEMS HF System received FDA approval last week and had already received CE Mark approval in the European Union.  In recognition of the value of the CardioMEMS HF System for improving patient outcomes and reducing cost, Medicare has also established reimbursement for the device and the implant procedure.

"This is a challenging, costly and often frustrating environment to build a business, especially in healthcare", said John Huntz, Head of Arcapita Ventures and Chairman of CardioMEMS, Inc., – "Jay Yadav and the CardioMEMs team not only came up with an innovative and revolutionary approach to treating heart failure but have spent the past decade making this a reality – it was my pleasure to work with a great team of people who are smart, have high integrity, and are doing really hard things, really well. Arcapita is proud to have been the lead investor in this novel technology which will provide invaluable support to millions of heart failure patients and reduce hospitalization rates in the U.S. and around the world."

"Only through the commitment of the patients and clinicians who participated in our clinical trials, as well as the support of our investors, has this new treatment for heart failure been possible," stated Jay S. Yadav, M.D., Founder and CEO of CardioMEMS, "St. Jude has the global presence to bring the benefit of our device to all the patients who may need it."

The CardioMEMS wireless heart failure sensor is an innovative miniature device that is implanted into the patient's pulmonary artery using a simple, catheter-based technique. Following the procedure, patients perform wireless measurements of their pulmonary artery pressure from home. The pressure data is immediately transmitted to a secure database and is available for review by the patient's physician or nurse on the CardioMEMS website. 

In addition to John Huntz's Arcapita Ventures, major investors in CardioMEMS included Boston Millennia Partners, Foundation Medical Partners, Deerfield, Aperture Capital, Easton Capital, Arboretum Ventures, as well as a number of leading strategic investors.  In addition to Dr. Yadav as Founder and CEO, EVP David Stern, COO Sandeep Yadav, and CFO Dan Bauer led the management team at CardioMEMS.

Additional Information
Additional information can be found:

  On Arcapita at:  www.arcapita.com
  On CardioMEMS at:  www.cardiomems.com

Statements made in this press release that look forward in time or that express beliefs, expectations or hopes regarding future occurrences or anticipated outcomes are forward-looking statements. A number of risks and uncertainties such as risks associated with product development and commercialization efforts, expected timing or results of any clinical trials, ultimate clinical outcome and perceived or actual advantages of the Company's products, market and physician acceptance of the products, intellectual property protection, and competitive offerings could cause actual events to adversely differ from the expectations indicated in these forward looking statements.

SOURCE CardioMEMS, Inc.