In August, Triad Life Sciences scored a major boost when it completed a $25 million funding round.
Months later, the Memphis-based biotech company — which seeks to help treat surgical wounds, chronic stalled wounds, and burns — has even bigger news.
It’s officially been acquired.
Triad Life Sciences has been bought by ConvaTec Group PLC, a British medical and technologies company focused on products for the management of chronic conditions. Triad’s employees, portfolio, and product line will become part of ConvaTec’s Advanced Wound Care business, and be known as ConvaTec Advanced Tissue Technologies.
Russell Olsen, Triad’s founder and CEO, will become its general manager, and report to David Shepherd, ConvaTec’s president and COO of Global Advanced Wound Care.
“It’s an exciting day as we join ConvaTec — a business with an impressive reputation and unique capabilities in advanced wound care, based on decades of innovation,” Olsen said, in a press release. “We look forward to accelerating the growth of our innovative technology platform as part of the Advanced Wound Care business.”
ConvaTec’s initial payment to Triad is valued at $125 million. But the ultimate price tag could be greater, as it’s eligible for two additional payments worth $25 million, each related to short-term milestones. Triad could also receive two earnout payments, conditional on performance, during the first and second year after the acquisition, with a maximum potential earnout of $275 million.
Plans for the acquisition were first announced in January; and at the time, Triad had over 50 employees. In 2020, it generated annual revenue of $8.4 million, with a loss before tax of $2.8 million. Revenue for 2021 is estimated to be about $19 million, and as of June 30, its gross assets were valued at $23 million.
Founded in 2017, Triad is the creator of InnovaMatrix AC, a placental wound care device. According to the company’s website, it’s the first placenta-derived medical device cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for wound management; and the product looks to take advantage of the natural benefits of placenta — with potential uses including the treatment of partial and full-thickness wounds, trauma wounds, draining wounds, and surgical wounds, as well as venous, pressure, and diabetic ulcers.
ConvaTec — which earned $2.038 billion in 2021, according to its annual report — will now look to capitalize on the InnovaMatrix AC, along with the other products in Triad’s pipeline.
The acquisition represents its foray into the growing wound biologics segment, and at the time it was announced, ConvaTec said it thought the transaction would be immediately accretive — with the return on invested capital expected to exceed the cost of capital in year three.
