Stroke care company Neuravi sold to Johnson & Johnson

Neuravi's Eamon Brady

Gavin McLoughlin

Galway-based stroke care firm Neuravi has been bought by an offshoot of multinational giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J).

The Irish firm sells a product called EmboTrap designed to restore blood flow to the brain in stroke patients. The parties did not disclose financial details but the Irish Independent understands the price paid is in the hundreds of millions of euro.

Codman Neuro, the J&J company that is acquiring Neuravi, said the deal demonstrates its "strong commitment to delivering innovative products for stroke therapy".

Neuravi, set up in 2009, has been backed by Dublin-based healthcare venture capital fund Fountain Healthcare Partners, Delta Partners and Enterprise Ireland among others.

The deal will result in a big payday for them as well as the company's founders.

The Ballybrit-based firm is run by chief executive Eamon Brady, who founded the company alongside chief technology officer David Vale, chairman John O'Shaughnessy and US-based radiologist Mahmood Razavi.

Mr Brady, Mr Vale and Mr O'Shaughnessy previously worked together at MedNova, a medical device firm that was acquired by multinational healthcare firm Abbott Laboratories in 2005.

The EmboTrap product - used to treat about 3,000 European patients so far - is available commercially in the EU but not in the US.

Codman Neuro said it is planning to put the device in front of the American regulators this year.

The device is for treating ischemic strokes, which occur as a result of an obstruction blocking blood flow to the brain and account for 87pc of all strokes, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.

"Rapid restoration of flow is of utmost importance when treating stroke patients," said Shlomi Nachman of J&J.

"We are excited to combine Neuravi's expertise in clot research with Codman Neuro's global resources to accelerate innovation in acute ischemic stroke treatment," Mr Nachman added.

Management at Neuravi declined to comment.