St. Jude Medical is paying approximately $200 million in cash to buy Wilmington, Mass.-based NeuroTherm, a privately held maker of radiofrequency ablation products for interventional pain management.

No subsequent payments based on milestones will be made, St. Jude spokeswoman Micki Sievwright told Device Daily Bulletin. The company expects the deal to close in the third quarter of this year.

NeuroTherm’s RFA products will complement St. Jude’s chronic pain portfolio and make the latter the only devicemaker with both RFA and spinal cord stimulation, the company said.

RFA is a minimally invasive procedure that pinpoints painful nerves and uses heat to destroy them. NeuroTherm’s multilesion RF generator allows real-time temperature monitoring and constant delivery of energy to each site, ensuring complete treatment of each targeted spinal nerve, St. Jude said. The company’s products are available in over 65 countries.

Chronic pain affects 1.5 billion people worldwide — more than heart disease, cancer and diabetes combined, according to St. Jude. Roughly 230 million Americans were diagnosed with chronic pain last year, but only 8 percent received interventional therapy. — Kellen Owings

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