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Medtronic's (MDT) REVERSE Trial Indicates CRT's Benefits for HF

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Medtronic plc (MDT - Free Report) recently announced the new results from its REVERSE (REsynchronization reVErses Remodeling in Systolic left vEntricular dysfunction) clinical trial. The trial, which assesses outcomes of cardiac resynchronization therapy (“CRT”) for patients with mild heart failure (“HF”), demonstrates that patients whose HF stabilizes with CRT live longer, similar to patients whose condition improves with CRT.

Notably, the manuscript of the trial result was recently published in the Journal of American College of Cardiology: Clinical Electrophysiology.

For investors’ note, the REVERSE trial was the first large-scale, global, randomized double-blind study to assess the benefits of CRT for patients with mild HF – those designated as New York Heart Association Class I/II. The trial included 73 sites worldwide, including those in the United States, Western Europe and Canada.

The favorable study outcome for Medtronic’s REVERSE trial is expected to strengthen its foothold in the global Cardiac Rhythm Management business. For investors’ note, the Cardiac Rhythm Management arm is a component of the company’s broader Cardiac and Vascular Group.

Significance of the Study Outcome

Per estimates, millions of people in the United States alone suffer from HF, which as a progressive disease, worsens over time and leads to a reduced quality of life and ultimately death. Per a field expert, although about a third of patients do not respond to CRT, REVERSE study result shows that with mild HF, patient stability is a long-term benefit of CRT, similar to patient improvement.

Per management, the REVERSE analysis highlights that the company’s CRT devices benefit a larger number of patients than was previously understood, thus reinforcing the strong clinical evidence supporting CRT. The analysis also indicates that CRT can be considered as an option to slow the progression of this debilitating disease.

Industry Prospects

Per a report by MarketsAndMarkets, the CRT market is projected to reach $5.1 billion by 2024 from $4.1 billion in 2019 at a CAGR of 4.4%. Factors like increasing incidence of target diseases, rising sedentary lifestyle amongst the population and technological advancements are likely to drive the market.

Given the market potential, the trial results are expected to boost Medtronic’s business significantly.

Recent Developments in Cardiac and Vascular Group

Of late, Medtronic has been witnessing a slew of developments in this business arm.

The company, in January 2021, received the FDA’s approval of the DiamondTemp Ablation system which treats patients with recurrent, symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, and who have been unresponsive to drug therapy.

Medtronic, in November 2020, announced the primary results of the company-sponsored STOP AF First clinical trial, which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The trial results indicate that cryoablation with the Arctic Front Advance Cardiac Cryoballoon and Freezor MAX Cardiac Cryoablation Catheter is superior as a first-line treatment for preventing atrial arrhythmia recurrence, unlike the use of antiarrhythmic drug therapy in patients with symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

Price Performance

Shares of the company have gained 13.8% in the past year versus the 16.7% rise of the industry and 25.9% rise of the S&P 500.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Currently, Medtronic carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space are Hologic, Inc. (HOLX - Free Report) , IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (IDXX - Free Report) and Abbott Laboratories (ABT - Free Report) .

Hologic’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 15.4%. The company presently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

IDEXX’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 15.8%. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Abbott’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 14.1%. The company presently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

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