KKR, Hologic and Ajax Health Create New Platform to Accelerate Medical Device Innovation

KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced a new platform established with investments from KKR and Hologic, Inc. (Nasdaq: HOLX), a global leader in women’s health and medical technology innovator. The new platform, named Maverix Medical, will be managed by Ajax Health under the leadership of Duke Rohlen.

Maverix will develop and acquire innovative technologies and commercial operations within the lung cancer disease category. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Each year, more people die of lung cancer than of colon, breast and prostate cancers combined.¹

KKR and Ajax Health will contribute existing portfolio company Serpex Medical to the platform. Serpex Medical develops innovative steerable technology that can precisely target lung tissue for biopsy or delivery of therapy.

“We have long admired the life-changing technologies pioneered by Hologic and are delighted to combine our collective resources to establish this new platform led by our long-time executive partner Duke Rohlen,” said Ali Satvat, Partner, Co-Head of Americas Health Care and Global Head of Health Care Strategic Growth at KKR. “This unique strategic partnership has enormous potential to develop, advance and bring to market differentiated devices and diagnostics and enable meaningful treatments for lung cancer patients.”

“This strategic partnership strongly aligns with our leadership in diagnostic innovation and early cancer detection,” said Steve MacMillan, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hologic. “Together with Ajax and KKR, we are excited to partner on a platform that leverages our strengths and expertise to target new disease categories, such as lung cancer, and that will allow us to continue to enable healthier lives everywhere, every day.”

“This is an ideal strategic collaboration for developing winning medical technologies that drive transformational growth and deliver patient impact. The Ajax team is eager to contribute our successful experience building portfolios of innovative products to Hologic’s world-class commercial and strategic capabilities and KKR’s approach to scaling companies and supporting growth together to create value and improve patient outcomes,” said Duke Rohlen.

KKR is investing in Maverix through its Health Care Strategic Growth strategy. Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About Ajax Health

Ajax builds growth engines that generate innovative product portfolios to catalyze value creation for larger, commercial-stage MedTech companies. Backed by premier global private equity firms including KKR, the Ajax team draws on 20+ years of experience as entrepreneurs, operators and investors. Ajax Health is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA with offices in New York City, Los Angeles and Austin. For more information, please visit www.ajaxhealth.com.