Medtronic and Genzyme Form Joint Venture to Advance Cardiovascular Disease Treatments

Medtronic, a leading medical technology company, and Genzyme, a biotechnology firm, have partnered to accelerate the development of new treatments for cardiovascular disease. The joint venture, MG Biotherapeutics, will leverage the companies' complementary strengths to develop therapies that repair damaged heart tissue and bring innovative biology to bear on serious heart disease.

Key Takeaways:

• Medtronic and Genzyme have formed a joint venture, MG Biotherapeutics, to accelerate the development of new treatments for cardiovascular disease.
• The joint venture will focus on developing therapies that leverage Medtronic's experience in delivery devices and Genzyme's expertise in biological approaches for cardiac repair.
• The two companies will collaborate on three key areas: a phase II clinical trial investigating cell therapy for heart tissue repair, advanced delivery devices for local cell delivery, and long-term cell therapy research.
• Stephen Oesterle, Medtronic's senior vice president of medicine and technology, stated that the joint venture has the potential to change the way heart disease is treated in the coming decades.
• Duke Collier, Genzyme's executive vice president, highlighted the collaboration's potential to bring innovative biology to bear on heart disease.

Statistics:

• Medtronic and Genzyme's joint venture, MG Biotherapeutics, will focus on developing therapies that repair damaged heart tissue.
• The joint venture will collaborate on an ongoing phase II clinical trial investigating cell therapy for heart tissue repair.
• The companies will also develop advanced delivery devices for local cell delivery and invest in long-term cell therapy research.
• The financial terms of the joint venture agreement were not disclosed.

Sources:

• Medtronic, Inc. (MDT)
• Genzyme Corp. (GENZ)
• Cardiovascular Week editors (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net, June 2004)