Dive Brief:
- Kardium said Thursday it will receive up to $31.25 million from the Canadian government to invest in a medical device manufacturing facility.
- The money will support a $125 million expansion of a Vancouver, British Columbia, facility where Kardium makes its Globe pulsed field ablation system
- Having received Food and Drug Administration approval for Globe last year, Kardium is scaling up manufacturing capacity to support commercialization of the system.
Dive Insight:
Kardium raised $250 million to bring Globe to market last year, adding to a $104 million financing round that the company closed in 2024. While Kardium has received private investor support, the Canadian government sees value in backing the medtech company. The investment will enable Kardium to retain critical intellectual property, expertise and high-value jobs in Canada, the company said.
Kardium will maintain 1,000 highly skilled jobs in British Columbia, the Canadian government said in a seperate statement. The staff will oversee cleanroom capacity that the government expects to scale up from 500 units to 30,000 units a year to meet rising demand.
Adrian Dix, British Columbia’s minister of jobs and economic growth, framed the government’s support for Kardium in the context of “unprecedented attacks on our sovereignty.” In July, the U.S. declined to renew an agreement covering its trade with Canada and Mexico. The next month, the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on certain Canadian goods.
While no sector-specific tariffs apply to medical devices, the trade war has created uncertainty and led the Canadian government to help local companies. The government funded Kardium from the Strategic Response Fund, which it created last year to support large-scale investment projects in sectors affected by tariffs and market disruptions.
Kardium’s Globe consists of a spherical array of 122 electrodes. By mapping the heart and delivering pulsed field energy, the device ablates tissue to treat atrial fibrillation. Sales of PFA devices have grown quickly in recent years as Abbott, Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic have launched products.
