J&J to Acquire Auris Health for $3.4 Billion

Johnson & Johnson announced that their Ethicon subsidiary will acquire medical robotics developer Auris Health for $3.4 billion in cash, with additional milestone payments of up to $2.4 billion. Auris has an FDA-cleared robotics platform to aid in bronchoscopy for the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer, and J&J says the platform offers “potential for growth and expansion into other interventional applications.” Auris Health CEO and founder Frederic Moll, M.D., will join J&J upon completion of the transaction, which is expected to close in 2Q:19.

J&J writes in their press release that advances in robotics will “simplify surgery, drive efficiency, reduce complications and improve outcomes for patients, ultimately making surgery safer.” In addition to Auris, J&J’s robotics portfolio consists of an early-stage orthopedic robotics company based in France called Orthotaxy, which is developing an assistive technology for total and partial knee replacements. The system is intended to be “cost-effective, time-efficient, and user-friendly in a variety of care settings” and will be expanded for a “range of orthopedic surgery procedures.”