PROVIDENCE – Ximedica, founded 35 years ago to help other organizations develop their medical devices, was recently acquired by a newly formed North Carolina company Veranex to become part of an international end-to-end, concept-through-commercialization service.
And the new owners said it will lead to growth and more hires at the Providence medtech firm.
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Executives from Veranex, established this year with financial backing from the Boston-based private equity firm Summit Partners, said Ximedica is joining three other companies as part of its new integrated business offering product development, regulatory guidance and market access expertise. The other companies that are now part of Veranex include the San Jose, Calif.-based Experien Group, the New Jersey-based Quartesian, and Boston Healthcare Associates.
The financial terms of Veranex’s acquisition of Ximedica are not being disclosed, the company said.
“The vision is to significantly accelerate the development timelines for new medical devices and diagnostic products, which brings more efficiency to the manufacturers and helps more products see the light of day,” said Luis T. Gutierrez, Jr., chief commercial officer for Veranex. “There’s a great ecosystem of entrepreneurs that have ideas. But it takes a lot of time and money to bring them to reality. We’re trying to bring them at cost and in a shorter amount of time.”
There were 120 to 140 Ximedica employees before Veranex acquired it, with over half of those based at the Providence office, with the rest scattered in other smaller offices in Minneapolis, San Francisco and China, according to company officials. Overall, Veranex now employs 900 people between its office and the four firms it acquired.
There will be no layoffs as a result of the Ximedica acquisition, said Gutierrez and another Veranex executive, and instead the company will likely end up hiring more employees.
“We should grow,” Gutierrez said. “The combination of the four businesses is going to lead to more sales opportunities.”
Ximedica is now being led by David Dockhorn, formerly of PRA Health Sciences, who is also serving as CEO of all the other Veranex businesses, Gutierrez said. The previous CEO of the Providence medtech company was Thomas Patton, who left the role after the sale to Veranex by former Ximedica owner SV Health, an investment group that acquired a majority interest in Ximedica in 2014 from its co-founders, Rhode Island School of Design graduates Stephen Lane and Aidan Petrie.
Gutierrez said the acquisition has gone over well with Ximedica employees.
“We spent a significant amount of time in the Providence office,” Gutierrez said. “There’s terrific energy there. We’re really excited by the work they do everyday.”
Ximedica doesn’t create medical technology products on its own, but provides product design and engineering services, helping to build on a prototype through diagnostics and design validation testing to make sure its truly innovative and commercially viable.
The other three companies acquired by Veranex offer more downstream services, Gutierrez said, including regulatory affairs, clinical development and market access.
“We are bringing a more complete solution to the market,” Gutierrez said.
The end products, in many cases, are helping to improve quality of life for medical patients with issues that span cardiovascular, orthopedic, wound care, ophthalmology, gastrointestinal and women’s health.
“It’s important to get these products to patient care, to help improve patient health,” said Vicki Anastasi, chief strategy initiative officer for Veranex. “There’s a lot of innovative products out there. We have a very streamlined system. We can get these products into patient care quicker.”
Ximedica has a strong history, and has grown into one of the bigger companies in the country offering medtech product development services, Gutierrez said. Ximedica serves companies like Boston Scientific, Medtronic and the Warwick-based Becton, Dickinson and Company.
“They’re one of the bigger companies in the space, doing this kind of work,” Gutierrez said. “We view them as an anchor industry leader already.”
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com.
