GE HealthCare (Nasdaq:GEHC) announced that it acquired computed tomography (CT) interventional guidance technology developer Imactis.
France-based Imactis, founded in 2009, develops CT-Navigation. The ergonomic, universal solution provides stereotactic needle guidance. This enables intuitive pre-planning and continuous control throughout a wide range of procedures.
The companies declined to publicly disclose the financial terms of the deal, announced yesterday. GE HealthCare intends to fund it with cash on hand. It remains subject to customary closing conditions, including a governmental review in France.
The acquisition marks the GE spinoff’s first foray into M&A since it became a standalone company last week.
“We’re thrilled to take this step in strengthening our interventional guidance offering for patients and customers,” said Jan Makela, president and CEO of Imaging, GE HealthCare. “The Imactis CT-Navigation system is designed to improve workflow for interventional radiologists and hospitals by increasing procedural accuracy, while helping to reduce procedure time and radiation dose for patients and physicians. It is an innovative navigation solution for image-guided percutaneous procedures that aims for better patient outcomes, by reducing variability for simple and complex procedures and improving reproducibility.”
GE HealthCare followed up today with preliminary quarterly results that included an outlook of 5–7% revenue growth in 2023. Investors reacted by sending GEHC shares up more than 1% to $59.18 apiece by afternoon trading. MassDevice‘s MedTech 100 Index, which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies, was up more than 8%.
How GE HealthCare views CT as a growing opportunity
In a news release, GE HealthCare called interventional CT capabilities a “high-opportunity growth driver” for the next several years. The Imactis acquisition offers access to that marketplace.
The company intends to expand Imactis’ technology to its image-guided therapy business and drive further growth. Additionally, it expects interventional guidance needs to increase across areas of care. That includes oncology, cardiology, urology, nephrology and gastroenterology.
Imactis’ CT-Navigation features an integrated workstation, guidance software and a disposable procedure kit. It currently holds approval under EU MDR and has FDA clearance for use in the U.S. GE HealthCare expects to provide significant global opportunities for the platform at existing client sites.
“The timing to join GE HealthCare is perfect,” said Pierre Olivier, president and CEO of Imactis. “Our solution, which is already deployed in leading healthcare systems in Europe and the U.S., is ready to scale and become a standard of care, thanks to GE HealthCare’s market access. Our product development team also sees significant opportunities to integrate our hardware and software into GE HealthCare solutions and make the workflow of the interventional radiologists and oncologists even simpler and faster.”
Imactis may be just the beginning for GE HealthCare
During a talk this afternoon at the annual J.P Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, GE HealthCare CEO Peter Arduini said M&A such as the Imactis buy is “going to be important for us over time.” He said he is discussing potential mergers with his colleagues on a weekly basis, looking for strategic fits.
In addition, GE HealthCare is seeking more strategic collaborations.
On top of M&A deals, the company has been forging partnerships with other major medtech companies, including Medtronic and Elekta. It’s reportedly even considered acquiring business units that Medtronic is seeking to spin off.
Health providers are increasing their focus on precision care, enabled by digital- and AI-based insights. Arduini thinks GE HealthCare has positioned itself well to advance the trend. The company is already inside so many healthcare institutions. “We’re inside the care pathways and in many cases generate the data.”
Last week, the company announced that it has hired former Amazon executive Dr. Taha Kass-Hout as its first chief technology officer.
GE HealthCare says it saw fourth-quarter revenue of $4.9 billion, up 7% year-over-year, and full-year 2022 revenue of $18.3 billion, up 4%. Full-year organic revenue growth was 7%.
For 2023, GE HealthCare expects organic revenue growth in the range of 5% to 7% and an adjusted EBIT margin of 15.0% to 15.5%.
Arduini wants the company to deliver consistent mid-digit percentage revenue growth and adjusted EBIT in the high teens to 20% in the coming years.
Executive editor Chris Newmarker contributed to this report.