Boston Scientific acquires CeloNova Biosciences and with it Embozene Tandem drug elutable microspheres and Oncozen and Embozene microspheres

Boston Scientific has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the interventional radiology portfolio of CeloNova Biosciences, a San Antonio-based developer of endovascular and interventional cardiology technologies. The structured agreement includes drug-eluting microspheres designed to be loaded with chemotherapy drugs for delivery to cancerous tumours, and spherical embolic products used to treat uterine fibroids and other conditions. More than 700,000 people worldwide are diagnosed with liver cancer each year, and the disease is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in China and many parts of Southeast Asia. These technologies offer tremendous promise to improve the quality of care by reducing both the cost and side-effects associated with traditional treatments. The transaction includes the CeloNova Embozene Tandem Drug-Elutable Microspheres, precisely calibrated spheres that can be embedded with drugs used to treat liver cancer, and the US-commercialised Oncozen and Embozene Microspheres, technologies used to treat hypervascular tumours, arteriovenous malformations and hepatoma. CeloNova has received an Investigational Device Exemption from the FDA for the SOLACE Trial, a randomised, controlled study of the Oncozene Microspheres loaded with chemotherapy agent doxorubicin, expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2015.