The American company Bioventus announced today (Monday), as expected, the company Cartihill The Israeli, which is developing a coral cartilage replacement, on the exercise of the option to purchase the company for $ 350 million. An additional 150 million will be paid if the company records revenue of at least $ 100 million during year aBold. Last week, FDA approval was received for the product, which was a trigger for the realization of the deal.
The main beneficiaries are Elron The stock exchange, the Peregrine Fund of the brothers Eyal and Boaz Lifshitz and Keren Exelmed Of Dr. Uri Geiger. Elron Announced upon signing the deal that if it materializes, it will receive $ 92-90 million at the time of purchase, and $ 37-36 million to be paid depending on the realization of the milestones. The return is a 5-7 times return on investment. Elron’s share is up 13% today, and the company is traded at a value of NIS 567 million.
Foundation Peregrine, Which owns an incentive incubator from which the company grew, owns about 5% of the company and will record a 50-fold return on its investment. Axelmed, which owns about 15% of the company, is expected to register a return of about 7 times on its investment. The investment is from the first Axelmed fund, in which the Migdal Group was a partner as an anchor investor.
Geiger said today: “It’s exciting that such a company manages to get a PMA certification, and more for a very large market. This has hardly happened in the years I have been active in the field. The most extraordinary I can think of is Novocure.” Geiger noted that the company’s plants will remain in Israel.
Boaz Lifshitz, managing partner at Peregrine, said with the publication of the FDA approval last week that he is proud to accompany the company from its inception and even to past crises. “The secret of this company’s success is its entrepreneurs, led by the company’s CEO Nir Altshuler,” he said. “We will invest with him wherever he goes now.”
Other shareholders are the aMoon Fund, the Access Medical Fund of Dr. Michael Tal and Limor Sandch, which invests in medical equipment in the early stages, the Partek Fund, the Johnson & Johnson Company and private investors. The company’s technology source at Ben-Gurion University, which also owns In shares through its trading company.
77.8% of patients in the Cartyhill product felt improvement
Biventos is a unique company in the field of orthopedics. It deals with organ renewal in addition to classical orthopedics. The company is very suitable for marketing Cartihill’s product. Cartilage problems are very common, and the market is large. It therefore made a lot of sense for Cartyhill shareholders to look for a buyer with the ability to quickly and efficiently build the company’s marketing channels.
Altshuler has developed a coral-based solution, which is inserted into the bone and merchandise where these are missing (e.g. in the knee). Part of the implant is inserted into the bone marrow, and attracts stem cells from it. The coral is taken right from the sea, with the approval of all the relevant authorities, then the company does various processes in them, including the process for which it was patented: it perforates part of the implant with holes suitable for cartilage cells, and some leaves with holes suitable for bone growth. The cells rebuild the cartilage and bone, and at the same time break down the coral.
In the next experiment conducted by the company, as well as in the multi-central experiment thanks to which it received FDA approval, it has already selected through a simple test only the appropriate corals. 77.8% of the patients in the Cartyhill product felt an improvement, compared to 33.6% of those who received the existing standard of care.
The company currently employs 30 people in Kfar Saba.