InnerCool buy to bring cash to Cardium's coffers and strengthen heart portfolio
This article was originally published in Clinica
InnerCool Therapies, the San Diego, California-based hypothermia systems developer, has agreed to sell substantially all its assets to interventional cardiology company Cardium Therapeutics.
Under the terms of the agreement, InnerCool will receive 2.5 million shares of Cardium stock and transfer $500,000 of certain liabilities to its buyer. Based on Cardium's closing price of $2.40 on March 9, the day of the announcement, this values the transaction at around $6.5m. InnerCool could also stand to gain a one-time product success payment of $5m (either in cash or stock), should full-year sales of InnerCool's products exceed $20m.
Cardium, also based in San Diego, is primarily focused on developing and bringing to market a portfolio of biologic drugs for treating heart disease. The firm had acquired the portfolio from German drugs giant Schering in October 2005. With the acquisition of InnerCool, Cardium gains a revenue-generating business that will not only help to finance its drug development efforts, but also complement its existing cardiovascular biologics platform.
InnerCool's lead product, the Celsius Control System (CCS), consists of an endovascular cathether, which is inserted in the inferior vena cava, and a console that controls the temperature of the saline solution circulating around the catheter. The system has been cleared by the FDA to actively induce, maintain and reverse mild hypothermia in neurosurgical patients during surgery or in intensive care. It has also been cleared for use in cardiac patients for maintaining body temperatures, in surgery and during recovery and as an adjunctive treatment for fever control in patients with cerebral infarction and intracerebral haemorrhage.
Cardium's plans for its newly-acquired business include ramping up sales of the product based on its current indications, while broadening and expanding the technology into other medical indications and applications, Christopher Reinhard, Cardium's CEO, told Clinica. Potential future applications of the technology include endovascular cooling for cardiac arrest, acute ischaemic stroke and heart attacks. "We believe that every surgical and intensive care hospital unit should fully understand the benefits of endovascular catheter-based therapeutic hypothermia and have access to our Celsius Control Systems," he said.
Mr Reinhard added that the company intends to continue on its acquisition route, seeking out cost-effective targets to accelerate Cardium's growth and development.