Welch Allyn acquires Tennessee company to combat blindness from diabetes

SKANEATELES FALLS, N.Y. — Welch Allyn, Inc. announced Tuesday that it has acquired Knoxville, Tenn.–based Hubble Telemedical, Inc. a privately held healthcare company that enables remote diabetic retinopathy screening, in an all-cash deal.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness among working-age adults, Welch Allyn said in a news release, citing research from the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Hubble Telemedical’s current product will continue to be developed, sourced, and sold by its existing four employees in Knoxville, according to Welch Allyn. The Skaneateles Falls–based medical diagnostic-device maker also acquired Hubble’s Knoxville facility and may add employees there in the future.

“As we develop and assess our plans to grow the business going forward, there is a possibility some positions will be added in Knoxville, depending on business conditions and needs,” Scott Gucciardi, senior vice president, new healthcare delivery solutions at Welch Allyn, said in an email response to the Business Journal News Network’s questions.

Welch Allyn President and CEO, Stephen Meyer, contends that the acquisition of Hubble Telemedical further strengthens his firm’s “leadership position” in getting sight-saving products into doctor’s offices. Hubble Telemedical complements the company’s other recently announced vision-screening technologies. That includes Welch Allyn RETeval-DR a handheld diabetic retinopathy assessment device (not yet available in the U.S.) and Welch Allyn Spot Vision Screener, a handheld, binocular vision screener targeting amblyopic risk factors in young children.

“Welch Allyn’s focus on enabling cost-effective screening in primary care can materially increase the proportion of diabetic patients that receive an effective retinal screen, and ultimately help save the vision of some portion of the 382 million people living with diabetes globally,” Meyer said in the release.

Welch Allyn learned about the Hubble technology and its team at a couple industry conferences and “sought them out for strategic discussions,” Gucciardi said in the email.

The deal is the second acquisition in six weeks for Welch Allyn. The company on Dec. 8 announced it had acquired HealthInterlink, LLC of Omaha, Neb., a developer of a software-based remote patient vital-signs monitoring system.

Privately held Welch Allyn employs more than 2,600 people in 26 different countries. It has 1,300 employees in Central New York, according to CNYBJ Research.