Teleflex buys Semprus BioSciences

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Teleflex Inc., a Pennsylvania medical device company, said Monday that it has bought Semprus BioSciences, a Cambridge spin-out from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Under the agreement, Teleflex said it has made an upfront payment of $30 million. Teleflex added that it may be required to make certain additional payments based upon the achievement of certain regulatory and revenue milestones over the next several years.

According to its website, Semprus is focused on reducing the health complications associated with medical devices such as infection, blood clots, improper healing, and cell overgrowth.

As a result of the transaction, Teleflex is acquiring Semprus’ Sustain technology; Sustain is a long-lasting, covalently bonded, non-leaching polymer that is designed to reduce the attachment of platelets and blood proteins at the surface of medical devices, Teleflex said in a press release.

In a statement, Benson Smith, Teleflex’s chairman, president, and chief executive said, “We believe Semprus’ novel technology provides distinct advantages over other surface and coating technologies currently on the market with its dual-functionality, ability to work in blood products, and long-term duration.”

Semprus was launched by David Lucchino and Christopher Loose. As graduate students at MIT in 2006, Lucchino and Loose developed a business plan that took first place in the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition.

In December 2010, Semprus BioSciences completed an $18 million Series B financing round co-led by SR One, the corporate venture capital arm of GlaxoSmithKline, and Foundation Medical Partners, a national health care venture capital investment firm with a strategic relationship with Cleveland Clinic, Semprus says on its website.

Leerink Swann, a Boston-based investment bank focused on health care, served as sole advisor to Semprus on this transaction.