St Jude Medical buys stake in CardioMEMS

St Jude Medical has agreed a deal to make a $60 million (39 million pounds) equity investment in cardiac medical technology specialist CardioMEMS.

The agreement sees St Jude acquire a 19 per cent stake in the company, which manufactures wireless monitoring technology for measuring pulmonary artery pressure in order to assess cardiac performance.

In addition, the deal includes an exclusive option which, if exercised, would allow St Jude to purchase the company completely for an additional payment of $375 million.

By making the investment in CardioMEMS, St Jude gains a stake in a firm which produces clinically-proven medical devices that can help clinicians to access vital heart health information remotely and without the need for catheterisation.

Dr Eric Fain, president of St Jude Medical's cardiac rhythm management division, said: "Investing in CardioMEMS reaffirms our commitment to technology platforms that improve heart failure management and the potential benefits of haemodynamic monitoring for both patients and the healthcare economic system."

This comes after St Jude Medical experienced year-on-year sales growth of 11 per cent in the second quarter of 2010, with its cardiac rhythm management unit among those to see growth.