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St. Jude Plans To Spend Up To $331M On Endosense

St. Jude Medical Inc. plans to pay up to $331 million to buy the Swiss maker of a catheter that can tell doctors whether the correct amount of force is being applied to the heart wall during a procedure to fix a form of irregular heartbeat.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- St. Jude Medical Inc. plans to pay up to $331 million to buy the Swiss maker of a catheter that can tell doctors whether the correct amount of force is being applied to the heart wall during a procedure to fix a form of irregular heartbeat.

St. Jude, based in St. Paul, Minn., said Monday that it will pay about $170 million initially to buy Geneva-based Endosense SA and then make an additional payment of up to $161 million depending on the timing of a regulatory milestone.

The medical device maker said Endosense developed the TactiCath irrigated ablation catheter to give physicians an objective measure of the force they apply to the heart wall during a catheter ablation procedure. The irregular heartbeat could recur if too little force is applied, and too much force carries a risk of tissue injury, which can lead to serious complications.

The deal bolsters St. Jude's portfolio of products that treat patients with cardiac arrhythmias, the company said in a statement.

St. Jude will pay for the deal using available cash from outside the United States.

Shares of St. Jude closed at $51.47 on Friday, and the stock has climbed about 42 percent so far this year.

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