Medical device giant Boston Scientific has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Israeli medical device company SoniVie for an immediate payment of $360 million as well as milestone payments of up to $180 million. Boston Scientific already has a 10% stake in the company.
The biggest winners from the deal are the heirs of the late Shmuel Almagor, Zvika Slovin, formerly of Elron, and European venture capital funds Supernova Invest, Andera Partners, TechWald, and Omega Funds. SoniVie has raised $85 million to date.
SoniVie has developed a tiny intravascular ultrasound device that can selectively denervate nerves around certain blood vessels to treat medical conditions related to high blood pressure. Among other things, the system can treat nerves around the kidney, one of the most effective methods for treating blood pressure. Currently, there are devices on the market that selectively damage nerves around the kidneys, but they use radiofrequency radiation, not ultrasound. Boston Scientific reported that ultrasound energy has the ability to penetrate deep into the tissue, making the treatment more effective and faster.
Last year, SoniVie reported positive results from an initial clinical trial in the US and Israel, and recently began a pivotal trial, which may be sufficient for it to submit the product for FDA approval.
SoniVie was founded in 2014 at the initiative of the Accelmed Fund, led by Uri Geiger, as part of its strategy of building companies after identifying a need from large companies. The technology was initially developed at Cardiosonic, and Accelmed acquired the rights to develop the technology solely for the field of pulmonary hypertension treatment. After Cardiosonic itself went through a crisis, at a time when the market was skeptical about the idea of denerving for the treatment of blood pressure, SoniVie's current investor group led the investment in the company and also acquired Cardiosonic's technology, from which it was spun off, including the technology for the field of denerving in the kidney area, its lead product today.
SoniVie has offices in Rehovot and New Jersey and is currently managed by Tomaso Zambelli, formerly an executive at large medical device companies. The technology was developed by Ariel Sverdlik, who subsequently also invented the medical aesthetics technology of Sofwave Medical (TASE: SOFW), also based on ultrasound.
"I was lucky"
Sverdlik, who developed the technology with SoniVie VP R&D Or Shabtay, recalls how it all began. "I was lucky. I embarked on a doctorate in medical engineering in ultrasound, with the idea of ??using intravascular ultrasound to prevent heart attacks. Tel Aviv University's commercialization company, Ramot, connected me with an investor named Shmuel Almagor. He was a cigarette importer, and perhaps wanted to invest heart disease prevention to deal with feelings of guilt.
"Shmuel asked me - how much money would you need to get FDA approval? I was naive, I said: '$2 million.' After five minutes he calls me, and says 'That's fine'. I asked 'What's fine?' And he said: 'I talked to my wife and she agreed. We will invest in the company.'" Almagor invested over $10 million in the company along the way, but did not live to see the exit.
Initially, the aim of the technology was to prevent the accumulation of calcium deposits in the arteries. "But one day I was at a conference, and I watched a lecture by a new company called Ardian. They talked about a technology for denerving nerves, which they said could capture 5-10% of a $50 billion market. And during the lecture I realized that with ultrasound, I could do it better."
"All the funds decided that this field was nonsense"
Ardian was sold for $800 million to Medtronic, and the market aroused great interest. Sverdlik continues, "Abbott invested $16 million in Cardiosonic in stages." But then, following Medtronic's unsuccessful trial with the technology, the entire field crashed. "Following the failure of the trial, which was not well-planned, all the funds decided that this field was nonsense and that it didn't really work. Abbott stopped injecting the money. When we asked them what to do with their shares, they said - whatever you want."
The entrepreneurs began searching for capital, until they found the AccelMed Fund, which wanted to develop the product for hypertension in health. AccelMed founded SoniVie and acquired the rights to this technology, and subsequently gradually acquired the rest of the technology. This was about the point at which Sverdlik left the company.
"I worked like crazy, and I didn't see any money for five years," he says. "I told them, 'I'm done, I need something new.'" As part of our fund raising efforts, I had met Dr. Shimon Eckhouse, and when I left Cardiosonic, I turned to him and said, 'Let's do something.' He said, 'Your ultrasound, can it denerve the bottom layer of the skin without damaging the top?' I said, 'Absolutely.' And so Sofwave was born," the company now traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 4, 2025.
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