By Thomas Lee
St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE:STJ) said Tuesday that it completed its $90 million acquisition of LightLab Imaging Inc.
With the purchase, Little Canada, Minn.-based device maker can enter the $500 million coronary imaging market with the new imaging technology optical coherence tomography.
OCT uses near-infrared light to produce high-resolution, real-time images that are clearer and more quickly produced than competing ultrasound technology. LightLab said the resolution of its images are 10 times greater are made 20 times faster than those produced by intravascular ultrasound. Ultrasound technology uses sound instead of light to produce images.
St. Jude Medical expects the OCT platform to boost the top line of its Medical Cardiovascular Division by $20 million during the second half of the year. The OCT market itself is expected to grow at a double-digit, compounded annual rate over the next five years, according to the Minnesota company.
LightLab won 510(k) clearance from the Food & Drug Administration for its OCT-based C7-XR imaging system and companion C7 Dragonfly imaging catheter on May 3. Two weeks later, St. Jude announced the deal to acquire the company.
