May 4, 2010—Waltham, Massachusetts— According to Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence, Medtronic could see its heart valve and surgical ablation market shares increase if the company completes its recently announced acquisition of ATS Medical. 

ATS Medical’s device offering is an obvious complement to Medtronic’s portfolio; ATS Medical’s key product lines overlap with two areas in which Medtronic is seeking to expand its market presence—heart valve disease and cardiac arrhythmias—as evidenced by the company’s numerous acquisitions in these areas over the past 24 months.  

ATS Medical offers surgical cryoablation technology, through a previous acquisition of CryoCath Technologies’ surgical ablation business in 2007, for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. The addition of this product line to Medtronic’s current portfolio of radiofrequency catheters will boost the company’s share for surgical ablation products, which currently sits at approximately 35%, according to MRG’s Cardiac Surgery Marketrack™ project. With the acquisition of ATS Medical, Medtronic will offer both surgical and catheter ablation technologies using radiofrequency and cryo energy—through prior acquisitions—making the company a full service provider for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, with a focus on the expanding atrial fibrillation treatment market.  

“The acquisition of ATS Medical could also prove valuable to Medtronic’s share of the heart valve market. The potential acquisition of ATS Medical would mark the third heart valve company Medtronic has acquired since 2009, including Ventor Technologies, and CoreValve,” says Raymond Chin, Senior Analyst at MRG.  “Medtronic and ATS Medical combined accounted for approximately 15% of US heart valve device market revenues in 2009. While ATS Medical and Medtronic may have to work in the short term to develop synergies, the longer-term impact of the acquisition could be substantial.  With an effective merger, the combined share of Medtronic and ATS Medical could climb higher than the 15% seen in 2009; however, the biggest revenue gains for Medtronic will come when percutaneous heart valves are launched in the US.  All three recent acquisitions were developing devices for transcatheter aortic valve implantation, securing Medtronic’s product offering in this space in front of some heavy competition from Edwards Lifesciences, who is expected to be the first-to-market.”   

MRG’s Cardiac Surgery Marketrack gathers data from over 120 Cardiac Surgery facilities throughout the US on a quarterly basis. Product categories covered include heart valves (tissue and mechanical), heart valve repair devices, CABG devices, and atrial fibrillation devices. Marketrack subscribers receive thousands of data points, including usage (units, average selling prices, and revenues), procedures, competitor shares, and brand-level information.