On June 15, 2022, Boston Scientific entered into a definitive agreement to purchase a majority stake in M.I.Tech Co., Ltd, a publicly traded Korean medical device company in the field of endoscopic and urological procedures. The agreement includes a purchase price of approximately $230 million. According to the announcement, M.I.Tech is the creator of the HANAROSTENT® technology, a family of conformable, non-vascular, self-expanding metal stents. Non-vascular stents can be used in gastrointestinal applications and in airways to clear obstructions or constrictions in areas such as the biliary tree, pancreatic duct, esophagus, colon, and duodenum.
Boston Scientific’s Art Butcher, executive vice president and group president, MedSurg and Asia Pacific, stated:
M.I.Tech is an innovator in non-vascular stent development, with product offerings that complement our existing stent portfolio, including the differentiated AXIOS™ Stent and Electrocautery Enhanced Delivery System and the flexible and conformable Agile™ Esophageal Stent System. We are committed to investing in technologies that advance care for patients around the world and are eager to work more closely with M.I.Tech to expand their international footprint.
Under the agreement, Boston Scientific will be purchasing a 64% stake in M.I.Tech from Synergy Innovation Co., Ltd, whose website identifies M.I.Tech as a subsidiary and a top 5 player in global non-vascular stents. M.I.Tech’s website also describes other products such as lithotripter baskets, polypectomy snares, veterinary stents, and glucometers. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2022.
According to PwC, semi-annualized M&A deal value in the medical device sector is down 85% this year in comparison to the same period in 2021 when $76.4 billion was invested across 93 deals. PwC attributes the slow-down to acquirers shifting their focus to integration and value capture activities, while the sector deals with regulatory headwinds and semiconductor shortages. PwC expects deals to pick up across all pharmaceutical and life science sectors in the second half of 2022, with the medical device sector searching for alternative forms of revenue, particularly from new consumer-centric technologies.
