Medical device manufacturer Boston Scientific has exercised its option to acquire the rest of Santa Rosa, California-based company Millipede Inc. to build out its cardiac portfolio.

Earlier this year, the Marlborough, Massachusetts-based medical device giant invested $90 million into Millipede with the option of acquiring the rest of the company for $325 million, with an additional $125 million payment contingent on certain commercialization milestones. The new deal is expected to close in Q1 of 2019.

Millipede is developing what it calls its IRIS Transcatheter Annuloplasty Ring System, which is meant to treat patients with severe mitral valve regurgitation who cannot receive open-heart surgery. The company was founded back in 2012 by University of Michigan cardiac surgeon Steve Bolling, with help from majority investor Santé Ventures.

Mitral valve regurgitation refers to a conditions where blood flows back through the mitral valve and can lead to symptoms like heart failure, heart palpitations and fluid congestion.

The IRIS system – which has recently completed a first successful in-human clinical study – serves to reduce the size of the dilated mitral valve as an alternative to surgery.

“Upon commercialization, we believe the IRIS system can meet the needs of a currently underserved patient population that requires physiological, less invasive options to treat functional mitral regurgitation in patients with progressive heart failure,” Ian Meredith, executive vice president and global chief medical officer of Boston Scientific, said in a statement.

“This device is designed to be highly customizable to a specific patient’s mitral anatomy and disease state, and is repositionable and retrievable to promote a high-quality outcome.”

According to Boston Scientific, the transcatheter mitral repair and replacement market is estimated to reach $1 billion by 2021, with the majority comprised of repair procedures.

The acquisition of Millipede would serve to bolster Boston Scientific’s Interventional Cardiology division, which earned $2.4 billion in revenue in 2017.

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