Article preview from IN VIVO - November, 2012
Edwards Lifesciences announced that it was acquiring private Dutch company BMEYE BV, the developer of a new noninvasive technology for hemodynamic monitoring. Noninvasive hemodynamic monitoring has long been “The Holy Grail” in critical care, and non-invasive technology opens up new applications and new markets for Edwards as well.
Article preview from IN VIVO - November, 2012
Edwards Lifesciences Corp. hands down is the leader in hemodynamic monitoring. With $508.3 million in sales from its critical care division (in 2011) and a 70%-plus share of the market, Edwards dominates the field it created in 1970 with the introduction of the Swan-Ganz pulmonary artery catheter. Hemodynamic monitoring is the measurement of blood circulation and cardiac function. Such monitoring helps physicians determine whether enough oxygen is being delivered to patients’ tissues, a signal of sudden shifts in the status of a patient that can guide timely intervention.
But no place is safe in today’s health care industry, where concerns over costs and patient safety foment the sort of disruption that start-ups feast upon. Over the years, Edwards has continued to innovate, maintaining its dominant market share against closest competitors Pulsion Medical Systems AG and LiDCO Ltd., but the industry has continued to rely on one limiting feature: invasiveness.
Current hemodynamic monitors require an arterial catheter to give pressure sensors access to the bloodstream. These types of incursions through skin are becoming increasingly unattractive as hospitals wrestle with the costs of unreimbursed hospital-acquired infections. Arterial lines also require additional staff and management; not all health care professionals are trained to insert an A-line, which is another benefit of non-invasive technology. A non-invasive product is thus attractive to hospitals from a health economics standpoint, and also because it has the potential to expand hemodynamic monitoring beyond critical care into places where physicians wish they had access to cardiac output information. These new applications represent growth opportunities for Edwards.
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