What You Should Know:
– Sheba Medical Center, Israel’s leading medical institution, is celebrating a major success story with the acquisition of Innovalve Bio Medical by Edwards Lifesciences.
– This acquisition marks another successful exit for a company cultivated within ARC Innovation, Sheba’s dedicated program for fostering healthcare innovation. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Innovalve’s Pioneering Mitral Valve Technology
Founded in 2017 at ARC Innovation, Innovalve has been at the forefront of developing a minimally invasive approach to mitral valve replacement. Their innovative artificial mitral valve is designed to be implanted using a catheter, minimizing surgical trauma for patients with heart disease. The technology has already received FDA approval for initial human trials, with over 40 successful surgeries performed to date.
Sheba’s ARC Program: A Breeding Ground for Innovation
Innovalve’s success stems from the fertile ground provided by ARC (Accelerate, Redesign, and Collaboration). This program fosters a collaborative environment where clinicians and inventors can work together to translate groundbreaking ideas into real-world solutions.
Professors Ehud Raanani and Boris Orlev, leading figures in Sheba’s cardiovascular department, played a pivotal role in the initial development of the technology through their inventions and patents. Today, under the leadership of CEO Eyal Bar-Or, Innovalve continues to benefit from its close proximity to Sheba’s esteemed medical professionals.
Building on a Legacy of Success
Innovalve’s acquisition by Edwards Lifesciences, a global leader in heart valve technology, represents a significant validation of the innovation happening at ARC. This win joins a growing list of successful exits for ARC companies, including Belkin Vision, Endoways, and BurnAlong.
“The health system is an engine of economic growth for the Israeli economy, Innovalve’s exit joins other Sheba companies acquired in recent months by international biomed giants, which have repeatedly expressed confidence in innovation coming out of Sheba,” said Prof. Yitshak Kreiss, Director General of Sheba Medical Center. “These achievements are made possible thanks to ARC – Sheba’s unique innovation platform, which encourages the development of groundbreaking technologies through the combination of technological entrepreneurship and extensive clinical knowledge and experience, at the patient’s bedside. Soon we will see more and more deals of this kind, the fruits of which strengthen and develop the public health system. This is a real revolution that transforms the health system, which for years had to budget for the state, into a factor that generates significant revenues for the Israeli economy.”
