The sale to Edwards Lifesciences vindicates Innovalve's solution for the most common, and most challenging, heart valve disorder, and also Sheba Hospital's innovation model. After several years in which the pharma and digital health companies were seen as the next big thing, a series of deals has demonstrated once more that, in the healthcare sector, medical devices still stand the best chance of making an exit. The acquisition of Innovalve Bio Medical by Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW) for an estimated $300 million is the fourth healthcare exit in Israel since the start of the war, and three of them have been in medical devices.
Innovalve Bio Medical, which was founded at Sheba Hospital in 2018 by Prof. Ehud Raanani and Dr. Boris Orlov, and is managed by Eyal Baror, is the developer of a minimally invasive trans-catheter mitral valve replacement device.
Even before it was set up officially as a company, it signed an investment agreement with Edwards. The mitral valve governs the movement of blood from the upper left heart chamber (left atrium) to the lower left heart chamber (left ventricle). If the valve is leaky, some blood will flow backwards into the left atrium, a condition known as mitral valve regurgitation.
This condition tends to cause fatigue and shortness of breath, and, if severe, can lead to heart failure. Edwards, a world leader in the treatment of heart valves, has already bought two companies in this field in Israel: PVT, which became Edwards’ development c.
