Philips is acquiring EPD Solutions, a company specialising in systems that can create real-time 3D images of heart function. The company's equipment helps treat cardiac arrhythmias.
Dutch Philips is paying €250m for EPD Solutions. If the new subsidiary manages to achieve certain targets, this amount could rise further to $460 million. EPD Solutions was founded by Shlomo Ben-Haim, who was previously a professor of Medicine, Physiology and Biophysics at US Harvard University and Israeli technical university Technion.
Biosense
Ben-Haim is no stranger to the world of medical technology. He has been involved in founding several companies specialising in medical devices and biomedical sciences. For example, Ben-Haim previously founded Biosense, a company that developed a solution to create 3D maps of the heart. This company was sold by the professor for $427 million to Johnson & Johnson, which combined Biosense's technology with the Webster catheter. The company has since gone by as Biosense-Webster and has been a key growth driver for Johnson & Johnson.
So now another Ben-Haim company is being acquired by a major player in the market. Frans van Houten, CEO of Royal Philips, points out that EPD Solutions' systems can display detailed anatomical information of the heart in 3D during the action of cardiac arrhythmias. According to Van Houten, this is unique in the industry.
"The technology has the potential to address key outstanding requirements for real-time assessment of treatments, which is one of the most significant limitations of the current standard of care. This acquisition strengthens our ability to improve the lives of patients with cardiac arrhythmias and is in line with our strategic plan to broaden our portfolio of image-guided intervention solutions and achieve long-term growth for Philips."
Ablations
EPD Solutions' equipment enables doctors to perform ablations. An ablation is a treatment in which cardiac arrhythmias are corrected by deliberately scarring specific areas on the heart tissue. These scars block electrical stimuli that disrupt the heart and cause arrhythmias.
Ablations can be performed using a catheter, which in many cases is inserted into the bloodstream through the groin. EPD's solution allows doctors to track these catheters via medical images, allowing them to very accurately determine the position of a catheter and visually guide it to the desired location. A key feature of EPD's system is that the medical images are displayed in real-time.
Combining with proprietary imaging systems
Philips has been supplying its own imaging systems for some time. One example is Philips Azurion, an image-guided intervention platform that enables doctors to perform a variety of common and complex procedures in the intervention lab. Philips plans to combine these solutions with EPD Solutions' system. The resulting solution with enable electrophysiologists to better direct catheters accurately to map and treat cardiac arrhythmias.
EPD Solutions' system received European CE marking in February 2018. In the US, the solution is yet to be approved. The solution is based on EPD's own developed agorithms and electromagnetic sensors that are combined with standard electrophysiological catheters. Several European hospitals are already using EPD Solutions' solution.
Ben-Haim and team to join Philips
As part of the acquisition, EPD employees join Philips' business unit focused on image-guided interventions. Founder Ben-Haim will also join Philips to help the company build a new business based on the acquisition.
Philips expects to complete the acquisition of EPD Solutions in July.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: Philips (pictured)
Source: EPD Solutions
