Boston Scientific buys Galway firm

BOSTON SCIENTIFIC has acquired a small medical device development company based in Galway.

Labcoat Ltd, founded in 2000, is involved in the development of coating systems for drug-eluting stents. Stents are small metal mesh units that are inserted in coronary arteries during angioplasty procedures. Drug-eluting stents dispense drugs within the patient after the procedure.

Labcoat’s biodegradable technology is designed to improve healing of the vessel wall by reducing the amount of polymer and drug to which it is exposed.

“Boston Scientific has enjoyed an ongoing, productive relationship with Labcoat, and we look forward to . . . developing new drug-eluting stent technologies that improve patient outcomes,” said Jim Tobin, president and chief executive of Boston Scientific.

Boston Scientific, which has been market leader in the stent business but is coming under increasing pressure, did not disclose the terms of the deal.

The US company was already a significant shareholder in Labcoat, holding 17.5 per cent of the company according to results filed with the Companies Registration Office for the year to the end of March 2007.

Labcoat’s other major shareholder is Dutch firm Innocept BV.

The company’s directors include Israeli-based lawyer Eli Shachor and physician Ascher Shmulewitz as well as US-based scientist Art Rosenthal, Scottish accountant Philip Watson and chief executive Bernard Collins.

In the 12 months to end-March 2007, the company reported sales of $536,000 and a pre-tax loss of $4.44 million compared to sales of $4.34 million and a pre-tax profit of $206,000 the previous year. It said timing factors relating to the sale of technology licences was responsible for the fall in profit.