Ballerup, Denmark and  Kissing,  Germany,  October 25,  2017 – Today,  Ambu  A/S – a  leader  in  the development,   manufacturing   and   marketing   of   single-use   devices   for   hospitals   (NASDAQ   OMX Copenhagen: AMBU)–has acquired invendo medical GmbH. invendo medical is a leading developer of sterile,  single-use  HD  endoscopy  products  in  the  field  of  gastroenterology  and  gastrointestinal  surgery. Started in 2002, invendo medical  is  a  privately  held  medtech company  that  employs  35  people  and  is located in Kissing, Germany. invendo has developed the world’s first single-use gastrointestinal platform of which the second version of the first product –a HD colonoscope –is expected to be CE marked and have FDA clearance in 2018.

Today, Ambu operates in the field of pulmonary endoscopy (visualisation of the airways) of which there are approximately 5 million procedures annually. With the acquisition of invendo medical, Ambu enters the  field  of  gastrointestinal  endoscopy  (visualisation of  the  stomach  and  intestines)  of which  there  are approximately 70 million procedures annually. The purchase price of EUR 225 million includes up-front payment of EUR 115 million on a debt and cash free basis and contingent payments up to EUR 110 million. The contingent payments consist of EUR 70 million in milestone payments based on FDA clearance of future products and EUR 40 million in earn-out over a 4-year period. “This acquisition is a massive upgrade of our business potential. We introduced single-use endoscopy for airway  procedures  with  the  Ambu  aScope,  and  now,  we  will get  ready  to introduce  single-use  for  the gastrointestinal procedures,” says Lars Marcher,,  CEO  of  Ambu. “This is an important acquisition  that puts Ambu in an ideal position to  further disrupt the reusable regime within endoscopy.”

Fares  Zahir,  CEO  of  Xeraya  Capital -invendo’s  largest  venture  capital  investor,  commented  “We  are delighted with the prospect of invendo being further driven by Ambu’s strategic leadership in this space. We believe this is vindication of the efforts by invendo’s management team led by CEO Timo Hercegfi and  the  company’s  other backers  in  developing  a  product  that  will  help  to  eliminate  infection  risk  and reprocessing needs for flexible GI endoscopy.”

Single-use for patient safety and healthcare economy

Advanced  reusable  medical  devices – like  endoscopes  – pose  a  contamination  risk  to  patients  as  the devices are difficult to sterilise between uses. Single-use  scopes, on the  other hand, are sterile straight from  the  pack  to  the  patient.  This  means  that  single-use  scopes  eliminate  the  risk  of  device-related infections and –because they do not require cleaning or repair –also improve hospital workflows. Since  2015,  US  authorities  have  increased  their  focus  on endoscope  cross-contamination  considerably. And especially reusable endoscopes for gastrointestinal use have been tied to the outbreak of infectious pathogens.

invendo medical  has  been  founded  by  German  medical  doctors  Dr.  Konstantin  and Dr. Alexander  Bob. The company has been backed by venture capital investors including funds managed by Xeraya Capital,TVM  Capital Life Science,  Wellington  Partners,  360  Capital  Partner  and  Heidelberg  Innovation  as  well  as  by undisclosed family offices and private investors. Barclays is acting as exclusive financial advisor to the shareholders of invendo medical. CMS Hasche Sigle is serving as legal advisor.

About invendo medical

Based in Kissing (near Munich),  Germany and New York, U.S.A. invendo medical is dedicated to sterile, single-use  and  robotically-assisted  HD  endoscopy  products  in  the  field  of  gastroenterology  and  GI surgery.  The  company  has  over  the  last  years  embedded  several  proprietary  technologies  into  its  first product,  the  sterile  and  single-use invendoscope™ SC210–expected  to  be  cleared  for  marketing  in 2018, and will introduce a full suite of other sterile and single-use GI endoscopes in future.