CardioMEMS improves treatment for Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) patients. Its primary product is an miniature wireless MEMS based sensor that is placed in the pulmonary artery to remotely monitor blood pressure. This enables a physician to detect changes in a patient’s condition from his office, without the need for an in person examination. If a patient’s condition starts to deteriorate, the physician can call the patient and adjust medication levels to maintain desired health status. Without this capability, many patients are faced with a sudden worsening of their condition that requires urgent transport to an Emergency Room and possibly a hospital stay for intervention, stabilization and treatment. Indeed clinical trials demonstrated that patients with CardioMEMS sensors experienced nearly a 40% reduction in ER visits. In actual practice, St Jude Medical which purchased CardioMEMS for $450,000,000, reported reductions in ER visits in excess of 60% for certain categories of Patients.
BMP sourced this opportunity through its relationships in the medical sector. Because of BMP’s experience in the cardiac sector, we recognized CardioMEMS potential to significantly improve the quality of care for CHF patients. BMP had a lead board role assisting the management team with Clinical Trial Design, Capital Raising and Strategic Partner Negotiations. In addition, BMP’s extensive experience with the FDA was particularly helpful as CardioMEMS navigated a very complex and lengthy regulatory pathway.
When CardioMEMS was sold to St. Jude Medical for $450,000,000, BMP’s Limited partners received a 300% return on our invested capital.