New York-listed medical device company Boston Scientific has agreed to acquire one of its corporate venturing portfolio companies, Asthmatx, a US-based maker of asthma equipment, for up to $443.5m.
Boston will pay $193.5m in cash and up to $250m if performance targets until 2019 are met.
Asthmatx makes the Alair Bronchial Thermoplasty System, which received US Food and Drug Administration approval in April and is meant to help severe persistent asthma in the six to eight million patients aged 18 years and older worldwide whose asthma is not well controlled with drugs through inhaled medications.
Boston had been one of the venture consortium that had invested about $42.4m in Asthmatx since it spun out from Broncus Technologies in 2003, according to news provider VentureWire.
Asthmatx said the other investors were Polaris Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, MedVenture Associates, HBM BioCapital, Montreux Equity Partners, and Vanguard Ventures.
Separately, Japan-based electronics conglomerate Olympus invested $50m in Asthmatx in May 2007 for 15% of the company as a financial rather than strategic backer.