Medela Completes Acquisition of Acacia Enteral Feeding Division

MCHENRY, Ill., May 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Medela announced today the completion of its acquisition of the enteral feeding assets of Acacia, Inc., a Brea, Calif.-based company that designs and produces a line of high-quality neonatal feeding devices. The acquisition further expands Medela's commitment and leadership in feeding solutions for neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The companies had announced the signing of an acquisition agreement on May 6.

"We are excited to close this acquisition and add enteral feeding to our portfolio of human milk feeding solutions for our NICU customers," said Carolin Archibald, president of Medela. "We will continue our 50-year history of bringing innovative, research-based products to hospitals and moms to improve patient outcomes."

Enteral feeding products are an important resource to support nutrition in premature infants and low-birth weight babies in the NICU. Enteral feeding allows the delivery of a nutritionally complete feed to at-risk infants who experience breastfeeding challenges due to a range of health issues, including a lack of muscles and coordination to nurse, and low or not-yet-established milk supply among mothers who gave birth prematurely. One in eight babies in the United States is born prematurely. Premature babies, born before 37 completed weeks' gestation, are at risk for both moderate and severe health problems, as well as lifelong disabilities.^[1] Enteral feeding is often a primary way human milk, which acts much like medicine to premature babies, can be provided to babies in the NICU.

All enteral feeding products previously offered by Acacia will continue to be available to customers via standard channels, but now under the auspices of Medela. Those products include the NuTrio Enteral Feeding System™ — one of the few complete enteral systems on the market today, offering an enteral feeding end-to-end product line made to exacting safety standards for the improved outcomes of neonatal patients. Other Acacia products include a line of NuTrio feeding tubes and syringes, and the NuTrio Guardian Warmer™, which warms an enteral feed as it is delivered (instead of in advance). This results in better temperature control and increased efficiency. Acacia's Brea offices remain in operation and now serve as the satellite office of Medela's new enteral feeding operations. For more information, visit www.medela.com. 

About Medela
Founded in 1961 by Olle Larsson and headquartered in the Canton of Zug, Switzerland, Medela is owned by the Larsson-Rosenquist Family Foundation and continues to grow under the leadership of the Larsson family. Medela concentrates on two divisions: "Breastfeeding," leading in the development and production of breastfeeding products, and "Healthcare," engineering and manufacturing highly innovative medical vacuum technology solutions. Medela conducts fundamental research together with leading scientists, medical professionals and universities, and uses the research results in the development of its products. Medela has 18 subsidiaries in Europe, North America and Asia, and together with independent partners distributes its products in more than 90 countries. The company employs around 1,500 staff worldwide, 330 of whom are located in the Canton of Zug.

About Acacia
Acacia has been designing and producing products specific to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) since 1989.  Acacia's strong commitment to these vulnerable patients has produced products that will reduce infection, provide the safest enteral feeding and increase medication safety. These three key challenges face every NICU and require a dedicated and forward thinking partnership to solve.

^[1] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Premature Birth. http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/MaternalInfantHealth/PretermBirth.htm. Accessed May 16, 2014.

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SOURCE Medela