Abiomed's Analyst Day Excerpts

Abiomed (ABMD - Analyst Report), which makes the Impella cardiac pumps, has unveiled its multi-year growth initiatives during its recent annual investor and analyst day in New York City. The company revealed its expanded heart recovery strategy and other new action plans aimed at driving multi-year sales and earnings growth.  

During the investor meet, the Massachusetts-based company discussed the recently released clinical and economic data from the PROTECT II study. New data from the Protect II study, which was presented at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (“TCT”) conference last month, demonstrated improved outcomes in patients undergoing extensive revascularization with Impella support.

Moreover, Abiomed presented, at the meet, the successful first human use of its new Symphony synchronized heart pump. The device, which was announced at the American Heart Association (“AHA”) 2011 scientific sessions in November this year, is geared to treat New York Heart Association (“NYHA”) class III chronic heart failure patients. The company said that Symphony is designed to treat roughly 90,000 out of 1.6 million  patients.

Heart failure is the inability of the heart to pump enough blood. Symphony, which is currently not approved in the U.S. for sale, is aimed at stabilizing the progression of heart failure and/or recovering the heart in this target patient population.

Besides Symphony, Abiomed also revealed a new Impella product dubbed “Impella cVAD” which is expected to become commercially available in the U.S. in the summer of 2012.  Moreover, the company said that it expects to foray into the Japanese market with its Impella products in 2013.

Abiomed is witnessing strong demand for its Impella pumps. Utilization of Impella continues to grow at a healthy pace as borne out by the increasing number of patients being treated with the device. Abiomed is pursuing a number of strategies (including a training program and additional clinical studies) to boost Impella use.

While we are upbeat about the prospects of Impella, we remain cautious about the intensely competitive environment and reimbursement risk. Abiomed faces competition from organizations developing permanent heart assist products including Thoratec Corporation (THOR - Analyst Report). Our long-term Outperform recommendation on Abiomed is supported by a short-term Zacks #2 Rank (Buy).

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