St. Jude Medical Inc., a global provider of medical devices, exercised its option to acquire all of Atlanta-based CardioMEMS, an Atlanta based company that recently received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for a miniature wireless implant for monitoring and preventing heart failure.
St. Jude, which owned 19 percent of CardioMEMS, purchased the remainder of the company for more than $450 million, according to Arcapita Ventures, the Atlanta company’s lead investor. St. Paul, Minn.-based St. Jude had already invested $60 million.
CardioMEMS says its wireless sensor can be permanently implanted into the heart and blood vessels, allowing physicians to monitor heart rates and artery pressures remotely, treat patients early and head off the need for hospitalization. The pressure data is transmitted in real time to a database and can be reviewed by a physician or nurse on CardioMEMS’ website.
St. Jude had indicated that it would acquire all of CardioMEMS when the FDA approval was announced last week. CardoMEMS also has received European Union approval for the technology.
The company was founded in 2001 by cardiologist Jay Yadav and Mark Allen, a Georgia Tech nanotechnology professor. It has grown from a small office near Georgia Tech to a large laboratory near Coca-Cola’s headquarters on North Avenue. in northwest Atlanta
Yadav said CardioMEMS, which has 98 employees, will remain in Atlanta, where he expects the business to benefit from St. Jude Medical’s medical device distribution network.
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