Last summer St. Jude Medical Inc. (SJM) announced the company was launching a separate division in the beginning of this year dedicated exclusively to interventional cardiology, to be headed by former SciMed Life Systems' president, Paul Buckman. The question then was when, not if, the company would join the ranks of cardiology dealmakers. The answer was eagerly awaited by a host of cardiology start-ups who had recently seen the already-thin ranks of major acquirers depleted by one with Johnson & Johnson /Cordis Corp. 's pending acquisition of Guidant Corp. [See Deal] That question was answered recently with St. Jude's acquisition of interventional cardiology start-up, Velocimed Inc. [See Deal]
The presence of a potential major new acquirer in this market is particularly significant because of the product development model that has enabled interventional cardiology to become the most rapidly...
