Mick Jagger is giving TAVR a boost: Here’s how

A successful transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) recovery for rock icon Mick Jagger could be good news for companies such as Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) and Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) that make devices for the procedure, according to analysts following the medical device industry.

The Rolling Stones frontman tweeted April 5 that he was feeling better and on the mend after undergoing the procedure at a New York hospital.

“We think Mick Jagger’s TAVR procedure will likely raise awareness of aortic stenosis and potentially lead to more TAVR procedures which should benefit the TAVR manufacturers,” Wells Fargo analysts Larry Biegelsen, Lei Huang, Adam C. Maeder, Shagun Singh said in an equity research note dated yesterday.

The Wells Fargo analysts have a bullish view of the TAVR market, which Research and Markets expects to grow to $12.2 billion globally by 2025. Edwards and Medtronic are top players in the space, and other medtech giants including Boston Scientific and Abbott are seeking to compete with their own devices.

“These devices have already shattered many treatment paradigms, and we expect them to continue to impact how heart valve disease is treated in the future,” said Biegelsen and his Wells Fargo colleagues.

Debbie Wang, senior analyst at Morningstar, agreed that Mick Jagger’s procedure will raise awareness about TAVR. Wang recalled how movie star Elizabeth Taylor raised the profile of the MitraClip, eventually owned by Abbott, when she received one to repair a leaky mitral valve in 2009. Taylor died in 2011.

“Nonetheless, we still think any incremental sales boost from this kind of situation is, ultimately, determined more by the merits of the technology (and how much practitioners believe in it) versus the rise in patient awareness,” Wang told Medical Design & Outsourcing.

Just last month, trial results involving the use of both Medtronic and Edwards’ TAVR systems on low-risk patients suggested the systems were as safe as open surgery. The results could open the way for expanded use of the technology.

“In the case of TAVR, the clinical data has consistently pointed to favorable outcomes compared with surgical replacement, which has bolstered practitioner enthusiasm for the devices,” Wang said. “And, the less-invasive process also allows many patients to leave the hospital far faster than with traditional surgery. There are a few highly experience TAVR centers that are even performing the procedure on an outpatient basis for selected patients.”