Abiomed
Share price on Dec. 31, 2019: $170.59
Share price on Dec. 31, 2020: $324.20
Change: +90%
Circulatory support device maker Abiomed (NSDQ:ABMD) executed one of the most jawdropping market maneuvers in 2020, almost doubling its per-share price in a year where most companies seemed to have to fight to keep their stocks level.
Danvers, Mass.-based Abiomed, like several others, played its part in the pandemic, with its Impella heart pump finding another purpose in the treatment of COVID-19.
In June, the company announced that it received FDA emergency use authorization (EUA) for its Impella RP for use with COVID-19-related right heart failure. A couple of months later, Abiomed confirmed that the FDA had offered another authorization, this time covering Impella in providing left ventricular unloading, supporting COVID-19 patients who are undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment and develop pulmonary edema or myocarditis.
Meanwhile, business plugged along for the company, as it continued to beat Street projections and made moves in M&A, purchasing Breethe and its novel extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) system back in April.
In October, the FDA granted a 510(k) clearance for Abiomed’s Breethe OXY-1 system — which among other things could help treat people with severe cases of COVID-19. Just last month, Abiomed announced that it treated the first two patients with its Abiomed Breethe OXY-1.
Growth like Abiomed’s over the course of 2020 is hard to ignore, making 2021 an intriguing prospect for where the company goes from here.
