Calypso Medical Technologies, a Seattle company which has developed a system to pinpoint tumors in the body, has been acquired for $10 million by Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, California. The deal also is subject to earn-out provisions based on unit sales of the Calypso medical device over the next 30 months.
Nonetheless, the deal is hardly a big win for investors who pumped $50 million into the company in 2009. Backers included Frazier Healthcare Ventures; Skyline Ventures; Bay City Capital; InterWest Partners and others.
Calypso said that it generates about $15 million in annual revenues, with the systems in place at more than 100 institutions in North America and Europe. It also has a patent portfolio of some 90 patents.
In a statement, Calypso Medical CEO Edward Vertatschitsch said:
“We are extremely gratified by the confidence and promise of this acquisition by Varian. It provides a tremendous opportunity to leverage our GPS for the Body technology as broadly as possible,” said . “Motion management is critical to accurately targeting the cancer so patients can experience the curative benefits of radiation therapy while protecting adjacent healthy tissue. We believe our real-time tracking capabilities will help to close the gap on this clinical challenge and I look forward to joining the Varian team to advance innovations in these areas.”