Hologic Buys Interlace Medical, Acquires Missing Link In Gynecology Surgery

Article preview from IN VIVO - January, 2011

Gynecologists generally have the opportunity to perform in-office procedures for three indications: abnormal uterine bleeding, permanent contraception and uterine fibroids. Hologic had supplied its 460 medical device reps in the US - the largest force in women's health - with the tools to perform two of these procedures, but couldn't offer the third piece of the puzzle, an in-office treatment for fibroids, a gap which, until now, hasn't been filled by any product on the market. Hologic is filling in the missing piece with the acquisition of privately held Interlace Medical, a start-up developing MyoSure, a minimally invasive resection device for submucosal fibroids.

Hologic Buys Interlace Medical, Acquires Missing Link In Gynecology Surgery

by Mary Stuart

Gynecologists generally have the opportunity to perform in-office procedures for three indications: abnormal uterine bleeding, permanent contraception and uterine fibroids. Hologic Inc. , had supplied its 460 medical device reps in the US – the largest force in women's health – with the tools to perform two of these procedures, NovaSure for women experiencing heavy bleeding, and an implantable contraception product called Adiana, both products acquired when it bought Cytyc Corp. in 2007. But Hologic reps couldn't offer the third piece of the puzzle, an in-office treatment for fibroids, a gap which, until now, hasn't been filled by any product on the market.

Hologic is filling in the missing piece with the acquisition of privately held Interlace Medical Inc. , a start-up developing MyoSure a minimally invasive resection device for submucosal fibroids. Hologic has agreed to pay $125 million plus future earn-outs based on revenues for the venture-backed start-up.

Interlace set out, in 2006, to design a device for interventional gynecologists to meet the rising demand for minimally invasive outpatient procedures for the physician's office. Existing devices for the treatment of fibroids fell short. Ultrasound-based procedures required significant capital and several hours per procedure. Hysterectomies, in the eyes of many doctors, went too far to treat most benign pathologies plaguing women, and hot loop resection was a procedure requiring such a high degree of skill to avoid its risks that it was only done in small volumes. A newer option was uterine artery embolization, but that procedure required angiography and the services of an interventional radiologist.

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