by
Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor | September 22, 2009
Exit Covidien, enter Embla:
Sandman to snuggle up
with Embla's sleep
diagnostic products
Covidien has sold part of their sleep respiratory line to Embla for an undisclosed sum.
"Basically, we're trying to streamline our portfolio and reallocate resources to businesses that are more profitable and growing faster for us," Bruce Farmer, a corporate communications manager at Covidien, tells DOTmed News.
On September 3, the Mansfield, Mass.-based company announced they were divesting three product lines within the respiratory business. The sleep diagnostic division, known as Sandman, was the first to close, according to Farmer.
Covidien hopes to focus on higher-margin products like endomechanical instruments, soft tissue repair tools and pharmaceuticals.
With the purchase of the Sandman line, Embla, headquartered in Denver, Co. now claims to be the largest sleep therapy business in the world, with around 2,500 customers.
David Baker, the founder of Embla, is no stranger to Sandman, a product he helped launch 17 years ago, according to a statement on Embla's website.
