Global medical device giant Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) today announced that it will exercise its option to acquire Israeli diagnostics company CathWorks, which has developed a software-based alternative for catheterization. Medtronic will pay $585 million immediately and additional milestone payments, which according to previous reports, could bring the deal up to $1 billion.
The strategic option to buy was signed in 2022. As part of the option, Medtronic invested $75 million in CathWorks and received marketing rights for the product in the US, Israel and Japan.
The agreement states that upon successful completion of several milestones, Medtronic will have the option to acquire the company for $585 million, and Cathworks will also have the option to require Medtronic to acquire the company, but for a lower amount.
«This is an unusual agreement, and we used to say that it’s an engagement with a really expensive diamond ring, which indicates that you’re probably not going to back out of this wedding,» CathWorks CEO Ramin Mousavi tells ‘Globes.»
Today, Medtronic chose to acquire the company, at the higher price of the two, evidence that the medical device giant is the one that chose to realize the deal.
CathWorks has raised about $155 million to date, so the return to investors is 3.7 times on average, already in the first stage. The main investors are TriVentures, Pontifax, Deerfield, Quark Ventures, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, and Johnson & Johnson.
CathWorks has developed a system for diagnosing heart disease risk based on a computational model derived from X-rays, which is a non-invasive alternative to diagnostic catheterization. The company was founded in 2013 by Guy and Dr. Ifat Lavie together with cardiologist Prof. Ran Kornowski of Beilinson Hospital. Guy Lavi was an image processing expert with a background as a senior executive in medical device companies, and Dr. Ifat Lavi was previously the head of the research and innovation laboratory in the field of cardiology imaging at Beilinson Hospital. Prof. Kornowski, a renowned expert in the field of cardiology, directs the cardiology department at Beilinson and is the chairman of the hospital’s research authority.
Prof. Ran Kornowski tells «Globes,» «This is a product that was developed right at our catheterization institute in Beilinson together with Guy and Ifat Lavi, following the identification of a need that had no answer. Using the system, we know how to accurately assess blood flow in the arteries, and this is the most important thing to know in order to make a decision whether to intervene or not.
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Medtronic signs $585m option to buy Israeli diagnostic co CathWorks
«It took a while to convince the catheterizers of this, but today we are talking about a product that is being sold and is making a profound change in invasive cardiology. It is very exciting to see a product that was born in-house and is making such a change, also at the patient level. The company is currently the most advanced in this field in the world, and Medtronic is the first of the major medical device companies with such a product. It is going to lead the field in a big way.»
Published by Globes, Israel business news — en.globes.co.il — on February 3, 2026.
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