Boston adds to furious deal-making pace

At $925m up front, Boston Scientific’s acquisition of the remote cardiac monitoring technology group Preventice is the biggest medical device deal since... 10 days ago. The start to 2021 has been nothing short of spectacular, with M&A deals worth more than $10bn having been announced so far in January. And a trend is emerging: as with Hillrom’s purchase of Bardy Diagnostics two days ago and Philips’s $2.8bn acquisition of Biotelemetry last month, the technology in focus comprises wearable cardiac monitors and software allowing patients to be evaluated remotely. In Preventice’s case the tech includes short and long-term Holter monitors – a sort of portable electrocardiogram – as well as cardiac event monitors and mobile cardiac telemetry. The deal follows Boston’s preferred pattern, whereby it invests in the company first before buying it outright; the company first invested in Preventice in 2015, and currently holds an equity stake of around 22%. Preventice recorded net sales of $158m in 2020, up 30% – a notable contrast to Boston, whose unaudited 2020 net sales fell 8% to $9.9bn.