The V-Wave Shunt
Johnson & Johnson announced the acquisition of V-Wave Ltd., an Israeli company specializing in innovative heart failure treatments. The deal is valued at $600 million upfront, with potential for additional payments of up to $1.1 billion based on future regulatory and commercial milestones. V-Wave will become part of Johnson & Johnson MedTech.
In 2016, Johnson & Johnson led a $28 million fundraising round in the company.
V-WAVE was established in Israel in 2009 by Yaacov Nitzan, Dr. Gad Keren, and Dr. Ascher Shmulewitz, with a focus on developing percutaneous implantable technologies for patients with chronic heart failure. Technology designed by V-Wave, highlighted by its Ventura® Interatrial Shunt System, was designed to help heart failure patients with relief of symptoms, reduced hospitalizations, and improved quality of life.
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V-Wave’s proprietary minimally invasive device for use in patients with chronic symptomatic heart failure (HF). The shunt is intended to relieve symptoms, improve quality of life, and reduce the need for acute hospitalization due to worsening episodes of HF in patients who become symptomatic at minimal levels of activity.
Each year there are more than one million hospitalizations with acutely worsening HF in the US alone. Direct costs of HF exceed $30 billion, most of which goes for in-patient care. The number of patients with HF is expected to double during the next two decades as baby boomers age and develop heart disease.
Heart failure is a global health burden associated with impaired quality of life, frequent hospitalizations, increasing health-care costs, and high rates of premature death.2 V-Wave’s cardiovascular implant technology specifically targets heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). In HFrEF, a patient’s heart muscle has insufficient ability to pump blood containing oxygen and nutrients to the body. V-Wave’s Ventura® Interatrial Shunt (IAS) is a novel implantable device designed to decrease elevated left atrial pressure seen in congestive heart failure by creating a shunt between the left and right atrium, thereby reducing cardiovascular events and heart failure hospitalizations.
“At V-Wave, we are dedicated to achieving our vision to help patients around the world – and we know Johnson & Johnson MedTech shares this mission,” said Dr. Neal Eigler, Chief Executive Officer of V-Wave. “We are confident that Johnson & Johnson MedTech is well-positioned to ensure V-Wave’s breakthrough ideas and technology reach patients in need as quickly and effectively as possible. I couldn’t be prouder of the V-Wave team, and the commitment it has taken to achieve this milestone. We look forward to continuing to build a world where cardiovascular disease is prevented, treated, and cured.”
