Royal Philips NV acquired BioTelemetry, Inc. for $2.8 billion US dollars. Headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, BioTelemetry provides cardiac diagnostics and monitoring tools that, according to the press release, are expected to add to Philips’ line of hospital-based patient monitoring solutions.

As the COVID-19 pandemic drives up demand for telehealth and remote patient monitoring, Philips expects BioTelemetry business to contribute to sales growth and adjusted EBITA margin in 2021 and deliver double-digit growth and improve profit margins to more than 20% by 2025. According to Frans van Houton, CEO of Philips, “the acquisition of BioTelemetry fits perfectly with [Philips’] strategy to be a leading provider of patient care management solutions for the hospital and the home.”

According to BioWorld, Biotelemetry had 2019 sales of $439 million US dollars and annually monitors over 1 million cardiac patients remotely. Biotelemetry’s current portfolio includes wearable heart monitors and AI-based data analytics and services. Philips sees opportunities to “broaden the scope of wearables” using BioTelemetry’s remote monitoring portfolio. In addition, Philips expects BioTelemetry’s 30,000 referring physicians to provide cross-selling opportunities, geographical expansion, pipeline opportunities, and productivity gains. According to van Houton, the referring physicians “a new channel for Philips” that can “provide [Philips’] offering for multiple therapeutic areas.”

It is estimated that Philips’ acquisition of BioTelemetry gives Philips a significant share in the estimated $3.7 billion US dollars cardiac ambulatory market. According to Roy Jakobs, executive vice president and chief business leader of Philips’ Connected Care business, BioTelemetry currently is No. 1 in the cardiac ambulatory market space. Among top 3 competitors in the cardiac ambulatory market, only BioTelemetry offers all four cardiac measurement types: short-term Holter monitor, extended long-term Holter, cardiac event monitor and mobile cardiac telemetry.

According to Philips, Philips is acquiring all shares of BioTelemetry for $72 per share and BioTelemetry and its employees will become part of the Philips’ Connected Care business upon completion of the acquisition.

Written by: Sean S. Kim