Acutus Medical to cut 70% of staff, focus on Medtronic deal

Acutus Medical, a manufacturer of cardiac electrophysiology devices, plans to lay off about 70% of its employees in early 2025.

The company submitted a filing to California's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification database on Dec. 2 for the permanent termination of 57 employees, set to take effect Feb.1.

Related: Medtronic to buy Affera, gain cardiac treatment tech

The job cuts come a little more than a year after the company announced it was cutting approximately 65% of its workforce. Both sets of layoffs are part of a strategy to focus resources on a deal with Medtronic, the company said.

Medtronic acquired Acutus’ left-heart access portfolio for $50 million in 2022. Although Medtronic is the exclusive distributor of the products, the deal entails that Acutus continues as the manufacturer.

The deal was part of the medtech giant's strategy to accelerate its cardiac ablation business and strengthen its position in the growing catheter-based cardiac procedure market, the company said in a news release.

Acutus estimated the downsizing will cost it between $1.4 million and $1.8 million. It anticipates $300,000 of severance costs, $1.2 million in retention bonuses given to the remaining employees who will assist with the downsizing and $300,000 may be used for contract closing costs.

The company reported $12.6 million in cash, savings and other investments as of Sept. 30. It said it expects those funds, along with revenue generated by selling its left-heart access product to Medtronic and future earn-outs, will be enough to pay its debts and continue running the business.