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Driscoll

Mahle

Medtronic Inc. (Minneapolis) and Biosense Webster Inc. (Diamond Bar, CA), a Johnson & Johnson company, recently announced a strategic alliance designed to advance the care of patients with cardiac arrhythmias. In a joint announcement, the companies said they intend to design a clinical trial that would better identify patient candidates most likely to benefit from ablation therapy and, in so doing, increase the acceptance of catheter ablation to treat cardiac arrhythmia.

Steve Mahle, president of Medtronic's cardiac rhythm management (CRM) business, said the collaboration would begin "by bringing the unique competencies of imaging and navigation together with diagnostics and monitoring in an effort to improve the electrophysiologist's capability in identifying and treating patients."

According to MedMarket Diligence LLC (Foothill Ranch, CA), much of the cardiac ablation market is focused on atrial fibrillation. This condition is the most prevalent type of arrhythmia, affecting 2.2 million patients in the United States.

"The market for surgical devices to treat atrial fibrillation is a dynamic one," says Patrick Driscoll, president of MedMarket Diligence. "One area of intense interest in this regard is developing ablation systems that can effectively ablate heart cells causing the fibrillation. Several of these devices have been or are being developed, some of which are currently in FDA testing."

Driscoll expects the U.S. market for cardiac ablation systems to grow from $53 million in 2008 to $173 million by 2013.

In addition to Medtronic and Biosense Webster, MedMarket Diligence cites a number of other medtech companies actively developing devices, components, and supporting accessories for the cardiac ablation market (see table).