By Tess Stynes
In June 2013, St. Jude Medical made a series of agreements resulting in a $40 million equity investment in Spinal Modulation. Under its option to acquire the company, St. Jude will pay about $175 million when the deal closes—set for the current quarter—as well as additional milestone payments.
Axium works by stimulating the dorsal root ganglion, a group of nerves that send signals to the spinal cord, and has been shown effective in treating conditions underserved by traditional spinal-cord stimulation. St. Jude in a news release Monday said the estimated size of that underserved population is more than five times the current addressable market. 
The Axium system was approved by European regulators in 2011 and approval is being sought in the U.S. Data from a clinical trial will be presented at an industry conference set for June in Montreal.
St. Jude said the deal will make it the sole medical-device manufacturer to offer radiofrequency ablation spinal cord stimulation and dorsal root ganglion stimulation therapy for chronic pain patients.
Chronic pain affects approximately 1.5 billion people world-wide, according to St. Jude Medical