Boston Scientific to Acquire Interventional Radiology Business of CeloNova Biosciences

November 10, 2015—Boston Scientific has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the interventional radiology portfolio of CeloNova Biosciences. CeloNova, based in San Antonio, Texas, is a developer of endovascular and interventional cardiology technologies. The structured agreement includes drug-eluting microspheres that are designed to be loaded with chemotherapy drugs for delivery to cancerous tumors, and spherical embolic products used to treat uterine fibroids and other conditions. 

The transaction consists of an upfront payment of $70 million and additional payments contingent on regulatory and sales milestones. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2015, subject to customary closing conditions.

According to Boston Scientific, the transaction includes the CeloNova Embozene Tandem drug-elutable microspheres, which are precisely calibrated spheres that can be embedded with drugs used to treat liver cancer, and the United States-commercialized Oncozene and Embozene microspheres, technologies used to treat hypervascular tumors, arteriovenous malformations, and hepatoma.

Additionally, CeloNova has received an investigational device exemption from the US Food and Drug Administration for the SOLACE trial, a randomized, controlled study of the Oncozene microspheres loaded with chemotherapy agent doxorubicin, expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2015.

The CeloNova Embozene Tandem drug-elutable microsphere has received European CE Mark approval, but is not available for sale in the United States. The CeloNova Oncozene microsphere loaded with doxorubicin is an investigational device limited by United States federal law to investigational use only. It is not available for sale, noted Boston Scientific.