$130 million poured into TriVascular

<p>Boston Scientific Corp. invested $130 million in Santa Rosa's TriVascular Inc. before closing the medical device maker two weeks ago.</p><p>Local investors have started a campaign to revive TriVascular, which was developing a next-generation stent graft system for treating abdominal aortic aneurysms.</p><p>"I think the technology still represents a huge advance in this area," said Healdsburg investor Steve Weiss, who was TriVascular's chairman before it was acquired by Boston Scientific last year. "It would be a shame not to see it come to fruition."</p><p>About 270 engineers, assemblers and other employees lost their jobs when the Boston Scientific unit closed June 16.</p><p>Weiss said local investors and former TriVascular managers are trying to raise enough money to purchase the technology from Boston Scientific and re-establish TriVascular as an independent business.</p><p>Natick, Massachusetts-based Boston Scientific, one of the world's largest medical device makers, acquired TriVascular in April 2005 for $65 million, according to a report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.</p><p>That sum was in addition to the $45 million Boston Scientific paid for an option to purchase the 7-year-old Santa Rosa startup in 2002.</p><p>In all, Boston Scientific invested about $130 million in TriVascular, according to the regulatory filing.</p><p>Last year, the former TriVascular operation grew to 270 employees and expanded into a new facility near Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport.</p><p>But a Boston Scientific spokesman said on June 15 that the company was closing the Santa Rosa unit because the technology was "not meeting its potential."</p><p>It would have cost between $50 million and $75 million to complete work on the stent graft technology, according to the company's filing.</p><p>Boston Scientific assumed a load of debt last January when it acquired Guidant Corp. for $27 billion. Boston Scientific won Guidant in a costly bidding war with Johnson & Johnson and now needs to trim its expenses, according to industry observers.</p><p>The TriVascular system was undergoing clinical trials and was expected to be commercially available in the United States and Europe within three years.</p><p>Weiss said a few Boston Scientific employees remain as the business winds down its operations in Santa Rosa.</p><p>Boston Scientific spokesman Paul Donovan declined comment Friday on the possibility of negotiations over TriVascular's technology.</p><p>Weiss, who heads North Bay Angels, a group of Sonoma County investors who provide seed money to technology startups, wouldn't comment on the status of the talks but said there's enough interest to justify "signficant discussions" among the parties.</p><p>TriVascular was founded in 1998 by a group of engineers and medical scientists to develop less-invasive treatments for deadly aneurysms.</p><p>Aneurysms weaken vessel walls, and they usually lead to death if they rupture. Stent grafts are tiny metal and fabric devices inserted into arteries to relieve the pressure.</p><p>TriVascular's system reduced the size of the stent graft, making it suitable for a variety of patients. TriVascular completed its first human implant in 2002.</p>