ANSI Sells Last of 3.5 Million Cyberonics Shares

Advanced Neuromodulation Systems (ANSI) has sold off the last of its 3.5 million shares of former merger target Cyberonics as the company prepares to move into new clinical trials this year.

The maker of neurostimulation devices said it made a pretax profit of roughly $85.2 million on the sale of its total holdings in Cyberonics. The company bought a 14.9 percent stake in Houston-based Cyberonics in August 2004 for $14.29 per share and expressed an interest in combining the two companies. Cyberonics publicly rebuffed the offer in September.

ANSI said it had sold half of its Cyberonics stock for a profit of $43.3 million. Additionally, the company indicated it hopes to begin clinical trials in the next few months to study the use of its Deep Brain Stimulation system for the treatment of essential tremor in Parkinson's disease and another study for sacral nerve stimulation.