Stryker disclosed in a May 11, 2026 Form 10-Q that its purchase of Amplitude Vascular Systems could reach $835 million: about $435 million in cash and up to $400 million in milestones. Stryker announced the agreement on April 13 without terms and completed it the first week of May.
Amplitude Vascular Systems, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, builds Pulse IVL, an intravascular lithotripsy platform that uses pulsed pressure waves from carbon dioxide, delivered through a balloon catheter, to fracture calcium and open the lumen. It targets calcified peripheral artery disease. The company opened a new headquarters in September 2025 ahead of a commercial launch it has not yet had.
Nothing here is cleared. AVS won an FDA investigational device exemption in 2024, enrolled its first patient that October, and reported positive pivotal PIVL results in the fall of 2025. Stryker enrolled the first patient in a first-in-human coronary study on May 18, 2026, after closing.
Paying $435 million upfront for a pre-clearance device is what a contested category costs. J&J bought Shockwave for $13.1 billion in 2024 and Boston Scientific took the rest of Bolt Medical in 2025; Leerink's Mike Kratky called AVS one of the more credible challengers to Shockwave.