Medical giant buys SR firm

<p>TriVascular Inc., a Santa Rosa company trying to develop new technology for treating life-threatening aneurysms, was acquired Monday by medical device giant Boston Scientific.</p><p>TriVascular president Michael Chobotov hailed the purchase, calling it a "huge milestone" for the 7-year-old company. With Boston Scientific, he said, "we get the alignment, resources and capabilities of a leading specialist in interventional medicine."</p><p>Terms of the acquisition of the privately held company were not disclosed.</p><p>Chobotov said Boston Scientific will retain the 220 employees who work at TriVascular offices near the Sonoma County Airport. The facility will continue performing research and development of medical technology that treats abdominal aortic aneurysms by implanting graft material within a stent, he said.</p><p>"Their plans involves growing our organization here," Chobotov said. "There is a recognition of the talent we have assembled here. If anything, we need more space, but we are not moving out of Santa Rosa."</p><p>Boston Scientific is a Natick, Mass., based company that competes with medical devices made by big manufacturers such as Medtronic Inc. and Johnson & Johnson. Medtronic, based in Minneapolis, makes stents in Santa Rosa, but those stents do not involve the injection of graft material that TriVascular is developing.</p><p>Boston Scientific has about 16,000 employees in office worldwide and reported about $5.6 billion in revenues last year. It trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the BSX symbol. It ended Monday at $30.75 a share, up 82 cents over last Friday's closing price.</p><p>Boston Scientific has about a dozen facilities in the U.S., with Fremont and San Jose being the only other Bay Area locations.</p><p>TriVascular was formed in 1998 and is owned by Chobotov, Robert Whirley, Joseph Humphrey, Dr. Geoffrey Rubin and Dr. Mahmood Razavi.</p><p>Chobotov said Boston Scientific's interest in TriVascular dates back to 2002 when it invested an undisclosed amount in the Santa Rosa company. Along with it came an option to purchase.</p><p>"That was the beginning of the strategic relationship and today we have the culmination," Chobotov said.</p><p>Boston Scientific officials said that, although the stent-graft market was only about $370 million last year, that could triple by 2008 if a method is found to improve the durability of abdominal aortic repairs.</p><p>"TriVascular has made tremendous progress in the development of a durable stent-graft that we believe will offer a new solution for both our surgical and interventional customers," said Paul LaViolette, Boston Scientific chief operating officer.</p><p>An abdominal aortic aneurysm is a life-threatening condition created by a weakening and bulging of the aorta, the body's main blood carrying vessel. Currently, conventional treatment involves invasive surgery requiring a large abdominal incision to implant a fabric graft to replace the damaged aorta.</p><p>Physicians have been able to use catheters to deliver stents inside the aneurysm and keep the blood flow open, although this has proven to require a high rate of repair.</p><p>TriVascular's stent-graft design replaces much of the stent assembly with a polymer that is injected into channels within the stent-graft device during the procedure. The device can be delivered into the patient through a narrower delivery system.</p><p>TriVascular successfully completed its first human implant of its stent-graft in 2002, and clinical experience on 78 patients has shown promising results in initial studies, TriVascular said. Studies in the U.S. are set to begin this year with a device on the market in 2008, officials said.</p><p>"We believe our next generation solution will address the significant unmet clinical need for a reliable, durable device that reduces patient trauma and the need for re-intervention," Chobotov said.</p>