Medical Device Link.

Originally Published MX July/August 2002

COVER STORY

Building It Better

When a company starts life with a 40-year tradition of focused market leadership, how do company leaders improve on performance? At Edwards Lifesciences, the answer has been to build on the company's strengths by increasing focused R&D spending to pursue long-term growth opportunities.

The Carpentier-Edwards S.A.V. porcine aortic valve.

Edwards is the leading heart valve company in the world, with just over 50% of its sales in markets outside the United States (Europe, 19%; Japan, 23%; rest-of-world markets, 9%). The company operates two manufacturing facilities that produce pericardial and porcine valves from biologically inert animal tissue sewn onto proprietary wireforms or stents. The company also manufactures a stentless porcine valve.

The Lifepath AAA endovascular graft system.

Edwards Lifesciences' offerings include the Carpentier-Edwards Perimount line of pericardial valves, which are the most widely prescribed tissue valves in the world. The Perimount mitral valve became the leading mitral-tissue heart valve in the United States after just nine months on the market. Edwards's latest U.S. tissue-valve offering is its Carpentier-Edwards S.A.V. porcine aortic valve, which incorporates proprietary design features for optimal anatomic fit. It is the leading porcine valve internationally.

Also new from Edwards is the Lifepath abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) endovascular graft system, the only balloon- expandable endovascular graft for treating abdominal aortic aneurysms less invasively. The system is currently sold commercially in Europe and is undergoing clinical evaluation in the United States.

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