Irvine Laser Catheter Firm Will Merge With Colorado Counterpart

Advanced Interventional Systems Inc., which pioneered the use of laser catheters for heart angioplasty, said Thursday that it has agreed to merge its operations with a Colorado company in an exchange of stock that it valued at $26 million to $29 million.

Shareholders of the Irvine company, which lost $9.9 million on $14 million in sales last year, would receive a 47% stake in a new company to be formed in a merger with Spectranetics Corp. in Colorado Springs. Both companies are publicly held.

Spectranetics, which lost $15 million on sales of $3.9 million last year, is the only other company approved by the government to market a laser system and various disposable fiber-optic catheters to treat arteriosclerosis in coronary arteries.

Robert E. Wall, AIS’ chairman, said there probably will be layoffs at both companies, but no decisions have been made yet. AIS has 85 employees in Orange County, 21 in the field and 65 at its fiber-optic subsidiary in Phoenix. The headquarters, he said, will probably be moved to Colorado, where Spectranetics President Robert J. DePasqua will run the new company as president. Wall, who said he is near retirement age, will become a consultant to the new company.

The use of lasers instead of balloons in angioplasty, a surgery to widen blocked arteries to improve the flow of blood, is an emerging technology that will eventually become the standard, said David Anast, publisher of Biomedical Market Newsletter in Costa Mesa.

“As the consensus among doctors for laser angioplasty builds, the future for the new company is bright,” Anast said. “But while it’s in its infancy, it’s in the best interests of both companies to merge.”

Wall said that shareholders of both companies and federal securities regulators must approve the merger, and that directors of both companies hope to complete the deal in four months.