Masimo Corp. (NSDQ:MASI) completed its takeover of the SEDLine brain monitoring business.
The acquisition marks Masimo’s entry into the anesthesia monitoring market.
The Irvine, Calif.-based company said SEDLine’s monitors use electro-encephalogram analysis to measure the electrical activity of the brain to gauge a sedated patient’s level of consciousness.
The company first showed its interest in SEDLine with a $3.5 million investment in January. Terms of the completed deal were not disclosed.
Mansfield, Mass.-based medical products conglomerate Covidien plc (NYSE:COV) acquired SEDLine competitor Aspect Medical in November 2009 for $210 million. Aspect Medical’s BIS technology is a direct competitor with SEDLine’s EEG brain function monitors.
The BIS technology has been a disappointment, according to MedGadget, as the technology is "still rarely used, because most anesthesiologists would rather adjust the depth of anesthesia based on heart rate, BP, and other indirect parameters, rather than on a number derived by a proprietary algorithm that no one has seen."
And the American Society of Anesthesiologists does not recommend the widespread use of brain function monitoring devices like BIS. The New England Journal of Medicine published a devastating study on EEGs in March 2008 from which Aspect’s stock never recovered.
