Medical device maker Boston Scientific said on Friday it will buy the remaining equity in privately held Nalu Medical for about $533 million in cash, expanding its portfolio of treatments for chronic pain.
Boston Scientific has been a strategic investor in Carlsbad, California-based Nalu Medical since 2017, supporting its development of neurostimulation technologies for chronic pain.
The deal gives Boston Scientific access to Nalu’s neurostimulation device, designed to deliver targeted relief to adults living with chronic pain in areas such as the shoulder, lower back and knee, through peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS).
PNS is used primarily to treat chronic pain that has not responded well to other treatments, like medication or physical therapy.
The therapy uses mild electrical impulses to interrupt pain signals before they reach the brain and features a miniaturized, battery-free implantable pulse generator, powered wirelessly by a small, externally worn therapy disc and controlled via a smartphone app.
Nalu’s device received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s clearance in 2019. In a late-stage trial, 79% of the patients using the system reached an average pain relief of 64% at six months.
Nalu’s “Medical technology complements our existing therapies — including spinal cord stimulation, basivertebral nerve ablation and radiofrequency ablation — enabling us to deliver advanced pain relief options to a wider variety of patient populations,” said Jim Cassidy, president of neuromodulation at Boston.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026.
Boston said the deal is expected to be immaterial to its profit in 2026, but slightly accretive in 2027, and increasingly beneficial thereafter.
