In a deal aimed at expanding its interventional oncology assets, interventional and ultrasound technology developer Boston Scientific has inked a definitive agreement to purchase the interventional radiology (IR) business of CeloNova Biosciences.
The deal covers CeloNova's Embozene Tandem drug-eluting microspheres, which can be embedded with liver cancer treatment drugs, as well as the firm's Oncozene and Embozene microspheres for treating hypervascular tumors, arteriovenous malformations, and hepatoma.
Boston Scientific noted that CeloNova has received an investigational device exemption (IDE) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the SOLACE trial, a randomized, controlled study of the Oncozene microspheres loaded with the chemotherapy doxorubicin. That study is expected to begin in the fourth quarter.
Boston Scientific will pay $70 million upfront for the CeloNova interventional radiology business, along with additional payments contingent on regulatory and sales milestones. The company said it expects to complete the deal by the end of 2015, subject to customary closing conditions.
