Medtronic (MDT) Focuses On Cardiac Management Portfolio

In a continuous bid to expand in the growing market of heart failure, leading medical device company, Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) recently launched its Beacon Heart Failure Management Service in the U.S. This is the latest service from Medtronic Care Management Services (“MCMS”) that integrates data from Medtronic implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) or cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices with post acute screening from MCMS. The service helps in focusing on high-risk heart failure patients and in taking timely measure.

Following the release, shares of Medtronic increased 1.56% to reach $85.45 at yesterday’s close.

This new development by Medtronic is in sync with the increasing demand for better and more affordable patient care. The company believes that Beacon would help to develop a more accurate idea about the heart patient’s health as it integrates not only device diagnostics but also day-to-day value-added expert analysis, and proprietary remote monitoring solutions from MCMS.

Moreover, the technology educates patients about self care and gathers all data from patients’ CRT device. These reports are then analyzed by managers certified by the company, who in turn, examine all the information to access any alarming heart failure risk and provide alerts to providers accordingly.

This latest development is expected to boost Medtronic’s growth prospects significantly in the huge and expanding market of heart failure, globally. We note that heart failure has become an important area of focus for Medtronic of late. This is because heart failure is one of the leading causes of hospitalization and death in the U.S.

In this same line, last week Medtronic entered into an agreement to acquire leading maker of surgical implants for heart failure, Heartware International Inc., for $1.1 billion. This acquisition, once closed, is expected to enhance Medtronic’s revenues in fiscal 2017 and would also strengthen its foothold in the global niche of heart failure.

Earlier this year, Medtronic received CE (Conformité Européenne) mark for its first and only cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds) approved for 3 Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) (T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. These defibrillators are expected to provide CRT–D patients with the latest imaging diagnostic procedures.

Of late, Medtronic had received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the first and only magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) conditional cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds) for the treatment of heart failure. The Medtronic Amplia MRI(TM) Quad CRT-D SureScan and Compia MRI(TM) Quad CRT-D SureScan systems have been approved for MRI scans on any part of the body without positioning restrictions

Key Picks in the Sector

At present, Medtronic holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A couple of better-ranked stocks in the medical sector are St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE:STJ) , ICU Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ICUI) and Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) each with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).


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