The Femoral Artery Closure Roller Coaster
Executive Summary
Market share charts for femoral artery closure devices looked like a roller coaster through Q3 2000, with each quarter producing a new market leader--Datascope, St. Jude Medical, and Perclose. Interventional cardiologists, whose views on device utilization levels and product lines varied, helped explain the market share movements, among other things noting the introduction of smaller, six French devices that led to the success of St. Jude, with Angio-seal and Duet. Most physicians agreed that while experimentation with different devices at this early stage of the market's development was leading to strong sales for all products, most hospitals will, over time, reduce redundancy in the product line and likely will end up carrying only two brands.
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An Open Market for Vascular Access Closure Devices
After an initial warm welcome for first-generation femoral artery closure devices--including a few high-profile exits--sales have stalled. Early devices are flawed, indicating the technical challenge is tougher than it looks. A dozen or so start-ups are trying to address the technology problems that have hampered the pioneers. The newcomers face high hurdles as early experience with first generation devices temper clinician and investor enthusiasm. All will have to prove, in large, rigorous clinical trials, that devices are more complication-free and are as easy-to-use as market leader Angio-Seal, and that they're at least as safe, if not safer, than manual compression. But although start-ups face a great of skepticism about particular technologies, they also inherit a $350 million market made up of devices with an average selling price of $200, which is an endorsement of this new device market. At the same time, an enormous opportunity remains in the 75% of the market that remains unpenetrated.
The Redemption of St. Jude Medical
In the early 1990s, St. Jude Medical was the market leader in its sole product area: mechanical heart valves, which placed it among the most profitable of device companies. Demographics, however, limited heart valves' future growth opportunities and St. Jude needed to diversify, moving into cardiac rhythm management (CRM), cardiology catheters, and vascular access devices, while also expanding in cardiac surgery. The diversification process went anything but smoothly, the company missed its numbers, and investors were quick to punish St. Jude for its integration missteps. In the past year, however, the company has become one of Wall Street's few device darlings, ranking number one in 2000 for returns among device stocks. The company's growth is largely the result of sticking to a strategy that has St. Jude well-positioned in CRM's traditional markets, while also poised to pursue huge new opportunities in atrial fibrillation and, to a lesser degree, congestive heart failure. And St. Jude has not forgotten its base: cardiac surgery, where the company has introduced new sutureless anastomotic technology for minimally invasive coronary bypass surgery.
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