Stryker acquires ischaemic stroke specialists

Stryker Corporation is to acquire medical device company Concentric Medical in a deal worth $135 million in cash.

Stryker’s purchase of Concentric Medical allows immediate entry into ischaemic stroke, one of the fastest growing areas of the interventional neurovascular market space.

Maria Sainz, President and CEO of Concentric Medical, said: “Combining Concentric with Stryker’s Neurovascular division will provide opportunities to accelerate the development of technology and clinical evidence and will allow the commercial expansion of Concentric’s ischemic stroke therapy globally.”

Concentric Medical manufactures devices that are used to remove blood clots from the brain. The company most recently launched the Trevo Retriever in Europe in 2010, which is the first device to retrieve clots from the brain.

Stryker expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2011, pending approval from regulators.

California-based Concentric Medical manufactures and markets minimally invasive devices that are delivered to the brain to remove blood clots, the cause of ischaemic stroke.