Edwards was originally founded by engineer Miles “Lowell” Edwards in 1958. Edwards and Dr. Albert Starr, a surgeon at the University of Oregon Medical School, designed, developed, tested and successfully placed in a patient the first Starr-Edwards mitral valve in 1960. As a result of the successful heart surgery, Edwards Laboratories was founded in Santa Ana, California that same year. In 1966, Edwards Laboratories was purchased by American Hospital Supply Corporation and became American Edwards Laboratories, which was later acquired by Baxter International in 1985. On April 3, 2000, Edwards was spun off from Baxter as an independent, publicly held corporation and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “EW”. Edwards now has a presence in approximately 100 countries with 14,000 employees around the world. On January 25, 2017, Edwards completed the acquisition of Valtech Cardio for $340 million. The deal had been first announced the previous November. On December 6, 2017, Edwards acquired Harpoon Medical of Baltimore, Maryland for $100 million. Harpoon, founded in 2013, developed a minimally invasive heart surgery product for mitral valve repair to treat degenerative mitral regurgitation. At the time of the acquisition, the product was not available on any market. On April 18, 2019, Edwards completed the acquisition of CAS Medical Systems of Branford, Connecticut for ~$100 million. Edwards SAPIEN 3 and SAPIEN 3 Ultra Transcatheter Heart Valve systems were FDA-approved on August 16, 2019. These products are used to treat patients with severe aortic stenosis without utilizing open-heart surgery.
Business Segments
Edwards Lifesciences designs, develops, manufactures, and markets products to treat cardiovascular disease. Its products are categorized into four areas: Surgical Structural Heart, Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, Transcatheter Mitral and Tricuspid Therapies, and Critical Care. Edwards serves customers worldwide.
Surgical Structural Heart
The Surgical Structural Heart business segment includes tissue heart valves and heart valve repair products for the surgical replacement or repair of a patient's heart valve. The portfolio also includes a diverse line of cardiac surgery systems used during minimally invasivesurgical procedures, as well as cannulae, embolic protection devices and other products used during cardiopulmonary bypass.
The Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement business segment includes technologies designed to treat heart valve disease using catheter-based approaches as opposed to open surgical techniques.
Transcatheter Mitral and Tricuspid Therapies (TMTT)
The Transcatheter Mitral and Tricuspid Therapies business segment involves the research and development of transcatheter heart valve repair and replacement technologies designed to treat mitral and tricuspid valve diseases. Many of these technologies are in early development and clinical phases, with seven programs and four clinical trials. The global market for TMTT therapies is expected to reach about $3 billion by 2024.
Critical Care
The Critical Care business segment includes pulmonary artery catheters, disposable pressure transducers and advanced hemodynamic monitoring systems. The portfolio also includes a line of balloon catheter-based vascular products, surgical clips and inserts.
