After a six-month battle, Edwards Lifesciences has been forced to walk away from its nearly $1 billion takeover attempt of heart implant developer JenaValve.
Edwards set its sights on JenaValve and its Trilogy system back in July 2024 with a $945 million deal to snap up the medtech company.
Also during the summer of 2024, Edwards closed a separate deal: the $316 million purchase of JC Medical and its J-Valve implant.
Last year, these deals were put under the spotlight from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which believed the dual transactions would lead to less competition in the market.
The FTC argued that if the JenaValve deal were allowed to close, Edwards would be left in control of the only two potential transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) systems designed to stem the backflow of blood through the heart’s chambers.
That would effectively allow the company to pick a winner and discard the other, according to the FTC, and create a monopoly in the market.
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JC Medical’s J-Valve and JenaValve’s Trilogy system are both TAVR implants being developed for aortic regurgitation, and they are the only two that have launched pivotal U.S. trials, according to the FTC. JenaValve, for its part, has already submitted its device for FDA review.
The FTC moved to block the JenaValve deal and, on Jan. 9, got its wish, as the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted its injunction blocking the company’s takeover of JenaValve.
“As a result, Edwards will not acquire JenaValve,” the medtech company said in a statement late Friday after the ruling. The company said it “disagrees with the decision and believes that the acquisition would have been in the best interest of a large, growing and underserved group of patients.”
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Rudolph Contreras said the opinion explaining his reasoning will be sealed until the companies set out a public version to be viewed.
