Deal worth an initial £144m signed to acquire sports medicine technology

Hull-based med tech group, Smith+Nephew, has agreed to acquire CartiHeal, the developer of Agili-C, a novel sports medicine technology for cartilage regeneration in the knee.

Smith+Nephew will pay an initial cash consideration of $180m/£144m at closing, and up to a further $150m/£120m contingent on financial performance.

Agili-C is an off-the-shelf one-step treatment for osteochondral (bone and cartilage) lesions.

It is designed to treat a wide patient population, including those with lesions in knees with mild to moderate osteoarthritis, a previously unaddressed condition, as well as the approximately 700,000 patients who receive cartilage repair annually in the US.

Deepak Nath, chief executive officer of Smith+Nephew, said: “The acquisition of this disruptive technology supports our strategy to invest behind our successful Sports Medicine business.

“Agili-C’s superior clinical performance makes it highly complementary to our existing knee repair portfolio and with our proven commercial expertise in high-growth biologics, we are confident we will drive further success with this compelling treatment option.”

Nir Altschuler, chief executive officer and founder of CartiHeal, said: “As a leader in sports medicine and with a deep knowledge of biologics, Smith+Nephew is the ideal new home for Agili-C.

“We are excited at the prospect of our technology helping many more patients overcome knee pain.”

Scott Schaffner, president Sports Medicine at Smith+Nephew, added: “We have shown with REGENETEN^◊ that we have the market development and commercialisation expertise to take novel technologies and successfully establish a new standard of care.

“Agili-C is the perfect addition to our portfolio and we look forward to leveraging our expertise to transform cartilage repair outcomes for patients.”

CartiHeal was founded in 2009 as a university spin-out. It retains a small facility close to Tel Aviv and a sales office in New Jersey, US.

All CartiHeal employees are expected to transfer to Smith+Nephew.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024 and the acquisition will be financed from existing cash and debt facilities.