Medtech Insight is part of Pharma Intelligence UK Limited

This site is operated by Pharma Intelligence UK Limited, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 13787459 whose registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. The Pharma Intelligence group is owned by Caerus Topco S.à r.l. and all copyright resides with the group.

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use. For high-quality copies or electronic reprints for distribution to colleagues or customers, please call +44 (0) 20 3377 3183

Printed By

UsernamePublicRestriction

The Sell/Go Public Dilemma for Device Companies

This article was originally published in Start Up

Executive Summary

With device company investors worried about exit strategies, companies and their financiers are looking for creative ways to get deals done. Limited exit opportunities are making financiers anxious, driving them to put more money into fewer start-ups, which target devices aimed at larger markets. Some entrepreneurs are forming incubators to focus on niche products in which they develop new technologies, then sell them without building companies around them.

You may also be interested in...



C&C Vision: Small Company, Big Vision

Presbyopia, the inability to focus close-up that come with aging, represents a blockbuster market opportunity since virtually everyone eventually suffers from the condition. The success of LASIK (laser surgery for vision correction) has created a demand on the part of patients and physicians for an alternative to glasses for the middle aged. C&C Vision hopes to be the first to offer a surgical treatment for presbyopia. Like others going after the market, however, C&C aims to validate its technology by addressing a medical need first: it is initially targeting cataracts. In doing so, however, it faces the risk of sidling up to, rather than directly attacking, the presbyopia market upon which it desires to be valued.

In Medical Devices, No Exit?

Despite early hopes, 2000 proved a less than auspicious year for small medical device firms, measured in terms of both IPOs and M&A volume. Acquisitions are still in a trough, particularly compared against the boom year of 1998, and IPO activity this year was lower than expected with a number of the more promising companies hitting problems by year's end.

Medtronic Scoops Up PercuSurge

The news that PercuSurge, the leader in emboli collection/protection devices, had been purchased by Medtronic caused some medical device executives to shake their heads in disbelief. Many had viewed a much-anticipated PercuSurge IPO as one of the most promising in the device industry in years, and they were confident that the device itself has the potential to be a blockbuster. That blockbuster potential, combined with the $225 million price tag, made it seem, frankly, as if PercuSurge had given up too early and too easily. But executives close to PercuSurge defended the company's move while affirming the long-term potential of the device.

Related Content

Topics

Related Companies

Latest Headlines
See All
UsernamePublicRestriction

Register

MT037156

Ask The Analyst

Ask the Analyst is free for subscribers.  Submit your question and one of our analysts will be in touch.

Your question has been successfully sent to the email address below and we will get back as soon as possible. my@email.address.

All fields are required.

Please make sure all fields are completed.

Please make sure you have filled out all fields

Please make sure you have filled out all fields

Please enter a valid e-mail address

Please enter a valid Phone Number

Ask your question to our analysts

Cancel