Medical Products Firms Enjoy Merger Boom

Petri dishes, artificial spinal discs and blood-testing strips may not seem particularly exciting, but the makers of these medical products have been fetching high prices this year.

Merger volume spiked as the larger players expanded into new specialties, and niche companies with just one or two ``gee whiz'' products sought new funding or wider distribution, health care investment bankers said.

For the first eight months of 2004, the number of medical device merger deals in the United States jumped to 106, up 63 percent from a year ago, according to research firm Dealogic.

The total value of those deals skyrocketed to $15.8 billion, compared with $1.1 billion for those in the year-earlier period, Dealogic said.

``There's some good firms out there with one or two really great ideas -- but maybe not 20 great ideas -- that aren't big enough to really build a business on ... but make a great bolt-on acquisition for someone else,'' said an investment banker who requested anonymity.

Last month, orthopedic device maker Stryker Corp. (SYK) agreed to pay $120 million for privately held SpineCore Inc., which is developing artificial spinal discs.

The product, which is in the early stages of human testing, is designed as an alternative to spinal fusion surgery. That marks a growing movement in device technology -- to help the aging population avoid the complications and costs of surgery.

The deal would give SpineCore extra funding and the broader distribution it would lack on its own. Meanwhile, Stryker would close the gap between itself and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), which is close to launching an artificial spinal disc in the United States.

``The acquisition of technology by purchase is less risky from a time perspective and cheaper than putting people in a lab,'' said Randolf Katz, a partner in the Irvine, California, office of law firm Bryan Cave.

Katz represented Irvine Biomedical Inc., a specialty cardiac product company that recently sold an 86 percent stake to existing shareholder St. Jude Medical Inc. (STJ) for $47 million.