Medtronic Posts Positive Result On Reactive ATP, Grows In AF

 | Jun 18, 2017 09:43PM ET

Medtronic plc’s (NYSE:MDT) strategic progress within its core Cardiac Rhythm & Heart Failure business majorly continues banking on its wide and growing Atrial Fibrillation (AF) solution sub segment.

Following the FDA approval of the company’s Visia AF ICD (implantable cardioverter defibrillator), Medtronic once again has come up with a favorable study result on Reactive ATP (atrial-based antitachycardia pacing) therapy.

Per announcement, based on the analysis of a real-world 8,800 patient population, Medtronic’s Reactive ATP therapy slows the progression of AF in patients who are being implanted with cardiac devices. This study was presented at the EHRA EUROPACE-CARDIOSTIM 2017 as a late breaking clinical trial.

Medtronic claims Reactive ATP as a painless pacing therapy, solely found on the company’s pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices.

This procedure keeps sending pacing pulses to the atria during abnormally fast rhythms or heartbeats, thereby helping to restore the heart’s normal rhythm and slowing the progression of AF.

Market Prospects

Notably, per the American Heart Association (AHA), Atrial Fibrillation is an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) which may lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications.

This disease has become a threat to the entire world at present as researches reveal about its pandemic spread at an alarming rate. According to information provided by AHA,at least 2.7 million Americans are living with AF. While globally, AF affects more than 33 million people.

While this disease constantly imposes a significant burden on the entire healthcare community, the global AF solutions market grows in leaps and bounds. Per the RnR Market Research, this industry is projected to exhibit a CAGR of over 13.3% during 2016-2021.

Medtronic’s consistent efforts to reap benefits out of this is completely strategic. Its AF solutions business, in the last reported fourth-quarter 2017 grew in the mid-30s (percentage more than twice the market growth). This strong quarter was based on its aortic plan advanced following the FIRE AND ICE trial, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

We expect the latest development to add further impetus to the company’s growth trajectory in this niche.