American laser medical equipment enterprises want to be merged and listed, and t

On September 20, Ra Medical Systems, an excimer laser medical treatment company headquartered in California, USA, announced that it had signed a final merger agreement with Catheter Precision, a medical equipment technology company for cardiac electrophysiology.

According to the terms of the final merger agreement, Catheter Precision will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ra Medical in the form of reverse merger of shares. The merger is expected to be completed by the end of 2022, provided that certain completion conditions are met, including the approval of shareholders of the two companies. The shareholders of Catheter Precision will own about 80% of the shares of the merged company. It is reported that the merged listed company will focus on the cardiac electrophysiology market, which is one of the strongest and fastest growing fields in medical equipment.

Image source: Ra Medical Systems

At the same time, David Jenkins, a veteran of Medtech, will join as the CEO of the merged company. He has rich experience in the development of medical equipment start-ups. Before serving as the CEO of Catheter Precision, Mr. David Jenkins played a key role in running several medical equipment start-ups, including Transneuronix (acquired by Medtronic for $267 million in July 2005) and EP MedSystems (acquired by St. Jude Medical for $95.7 million in July 2008).

Excimer laser device for treatment of vascular obstruction

It is reported that Ra Medical Systems, founded in 2002, is a medical device and equipment company located in California, USA. It has an advanced intellectual property right based on excimer laser platform, which is mainly used for the treatment of vascular immune mediated inflammatory diseases.

The excimer laser and disposable catheter system of Ra Medical Systems (called DABRA excimer laser system together) are used as therapeutic tools for peripheral arterial diseases. The DABRA excimer laser and catheter are produced in its factory in California, USA. The factory has passed the ISO 13485 certification and obtained the permission of the California government to produce sterile disposable catheter in a clean room environment.

DABRA 2.0 catheter manufacturing is used in conjunction with the company's excimer laser to clear blockages associated with peripheral arterial disease. Taking advantage of the special absorption effect of the plaque tissue in the blood vessel on the wavelength of 308nm laser energy, DABRA transmits the energy to the lesion site through the laser generator and special optical fiber catheter, so that the molecular bond of the plaque tissue breaks into fragments smaller than 25 microns (such as protein, lipid, etc.), thus playing a role in clearing the vascular obstruction.

The commercialization potential of electrophysiology is huge

Catheter Precision, an American medical equipment company, brings solutions to improve the treatment of arrhythmia to the market. Through cooperation with doctors, the company is committed to developing breakthrough electrophysiological program technology and continuously promoting the research, development and production of its products.

Catheter Precision's core product VIVO ™ (View of ventricular pacing) is a non-invasive 3D imaging system that enables doctors to identify the origin of arrhythmia before surgery, thereby simplifying the workflow and reducing the operation time. VIVO has obtained the market license of the US FDA and obtained the CE certification. The company also plans to develop the second generation Amigo ™， This is a kind of mechanical arm that has previously obtained FDA approval and CE mark, and can be used to remotely control the catheter outside the operating room. In addition, Catheter Precision is committed to the commercial listing of a vascular closure device, which is currently planned to be carried out in the first half of 2023.

After months of careful consideration by Ra Medical, the total sales of Ra Medical in the first half of 2022 was only $14000, while the company's operating investment was as high as $14 million. While Catheter Precision's total sales in the first half of this year was $132000, the company's overall development was sustainable, but it was faced with the dilemma of lacking enough cash to support the further development of the cardiac electrophysiology product portfolio.

According to the analysis, the medical laser market has a bright prospect, and the market valuation is also rising. According to the recent report data released by Precedence Research, a foreign market research institution, the global medical laser market will reach 4.5 billion US dollars in 2021, and is expected to reach 15.63 billion US dollars by 2030, with a compound growth rate of 14.84% from 2022 to 2030.

Source: OFweek Laser Network