US orthologics company Bioventus has invested $15 million in Israeli medical device company Cartiheal at a company value of $180 million, before money, reports Elron Electronic Industries Ltd. (TASE: ELRN), which has a 29% stake in Cartiheal. Bioventus previously had a 2% stake in Cartiheal, which has developed the Agili-C proprietary implant for the treatment of cartilage lesions in arthritic and non-arthritic joints.
Bioventus has also signed an exclusive call acquisition option to fully purchase Cartiheal, which received a put option to sell to Bioventus, after Agili-C receives US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.
Agili-C's pivotal clinical trial should be completed by October 2021 with the final results published before the end of 2021. If the results are positive and Cartiheal applies for FDA marketing approval, that process should take another year.
Elron reports that the call and put options will expire 45 days after Cartiheal receives FDA approval. Following Bioventus's investment, Elron's stake falls from 27% to 25%. Other investors in the company include Accelemed, Access Medical, aMoon, Johnson & Johnson, Pertec Fund, and Ben Gurion University's tech transfer company.
Elron CEO Yaron Elad said, "Cartiheal has today received recognition of its value as expressed by the investment and sell option agreement to leading international orthologics company Bioventus."
Based in Kfar Saba, Nir Altschuler is Cartiheal's founder and CEO.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 16, 2020
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