Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has agreed to acquire Atraverse Medical in a development that will give the medtech giant a left atrium access system to streamline cardiac ablation workflows.
San Diego-based Atraverse’s lead product is Hotwire, a system comprised of a radiofrequency (RF) guidewire and generator. According to the company, Hotwire is the first left-heart access system with impedance-guided technology and a mechanism to halt energy delivery to minimise unnecessary RF exposure in the left atrium.
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J&J highlighted that acquiring Atraverse would avail the company of an “innovative” tool to treat patients with atrial fibrillation and other cardiac arrhythmias. The transaction, for which the financial terms have not been publicly disclosed, is expected to close in H2 2026.
Hotwire’s guidewire obtained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance in May 2024, with a limited US market release initiated thereafter. The fully integrated system plus RF generator gained FDA clearance in December 2025. Since its limited market release, Hotwire has been successfully used in almost 3,000 left-heart access procedures, as per J&J.
Access to the left atrium is critical in performing atrial fibrillation ablation procedures. However, there is no venous pathway into the left atrium. Therefore, companies, including J&J’s RF ablation-focused subsidiary Biosense Webster, currently rely on products such as transeptal needles or steerable sheaths to puncture or bypass the interatrial septum in order to access the left atrium.
In February 2026, Atraverse shared data on Hotwire at the AF Symposium 2026 in Boston, revealing that in a first-in-human observational study including approximately 500 patients, the guidewire achieved a 100% procedural success rate.
Commenting on the data at the time, Dr Steven Mickelsen, Atraverse’s co-founder and chief translational science officer, said: “These data reinforce the clinical importance of controlled RF delivery and impedance-guided shutoff during transseptal access.
“The consistency of results across preclinical and first-in-human studies highlights the strength of the Hotwire platform and its potential to set a new standard for left-heart access.”
GlobalData analysis reveals that the global electrophysiology ablation catheter market is growing at a CAGR of 11.1% and is projected to reach a valuation of around $17.6bn in 2035, up from $6.1bn in 2025.
According to a GlobalData market model, J&J’s Biosense Webster held a 43.1% share of the US electrophysiology ablation catheter market in 2025, ahead of Boston Scientific and Medtronic in second and third place, with market shares of 25.6% and 24.6%, respectively.
