Article preview from Medtech Insight - May, 2012
With the recent success of Ardian’s Symplicity Renal Denervation System, drug-resistant hypertension has emerged as something of a device market “gold rush.” Some observers estimate there are now as many as 40 companies developing various device-based therapies for resistant hypertension, including most of the big names in the cardiovascular device arena – Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson, and Covidien PLC – along with a number of start-ups, all of which are racing to stake a claim in this highly promising market. Only time will tell which companies will be successful – even Medtronic, the first player, has yet to complete its sham-controlled US trial. But the technology’s early promise, along with the sheer size of the opportunity and the acute unmet need, clearly have peaked the interest of investors, manufacturers, and physicians alike, all of whom are chasing after what one participant has called “the next biggest thing in cardiology.”
Article preview from Medtech Insight - May, 2012
Impressive clinical results with the first device-based treatment for drug-resistant hypertension – the Symplicity Renal Denervation System from Ardian Inc. (now a subsidiary of Medtronic Inc.) – has ignited something of a modern-day “gold rush” in the medical device industry. Just three years ago, Ardian was the only company working publicly in this area; but now, some observers estimate there are as many as 40 companies developing various device-based therapies for resistant hypertension, including most of the big names in the cardiovascular device arena – Medtronic, St. Jude Medical Inc., Boston Scientific Corp., Johnson & Johnson (J&J), and Covidien PLC – along with a large number of start-ups, all racing to stake a claim in this highly promising market.
It’s easy to see why the space is so attractive. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), one in three US adults has hypertension, which translates to an estimated prevalence of 76.4 million cases in the US. Globally, that number is about 1.2 billion and growing, resulting in some seven million deaths worldwide due to hypertension each year. Treatment costs also continue to climb, with over 55 million ambulatory health care visits for essential hypertension and over 370,000 hypertension-related hospitalizations each year in the US alone.
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