The MitraClip Gets Gobbled Up By Abbott

Since my heart valve surgery, I have been fascinated by the strategic, corporate acquisitions of leading device manufacturers in this industry.

In fact, I began writing about the ongoing consolidation of heart valve manufacturers years ago. As of late, the “urge-to-merge” has really focused on the minimally invasive technologies for both heart valve repair and heart valve replacement.

That said, it was somewhat expected that a company like Evalve, with its MitraClip technology for mitral regurgitation, would be acquired. However, for some reason, I didn’t think that Abbot Laboratories would be the gobbler. I thought Edwards or Medtronic or St. Jude might be the buyer. (Then again, I think Abbot was one of Evalve’s investors.)

Also, I didn’t think the value would be $410 million considering current revenues. Then again, Medtronic did complete two deals earlier this year (Corevalve, Ventor Technologies) for over $1 billion. I guess both Abbott and Medtronic believe the future cash flows from these technologies will swell from the rate of heart valve disease diagnosis and treatment among the baby boomer generation.

I wish the team at Abbot / Evalve much success in their new marriage. I’ve been lucky to meet and discuss the Mitraclip with a few members of Evalve’s senior management team. They are good people with a solid technology which has produced encouraging patient results. Now, with Abbot fully behind them, I imagine that distribution (sales and marketing) will be much, much, much more efficient.

Keep on tickin!