Medtronic (Minneapolis) reported the formation of Medtronic CardioVascular, a new, global business combining its existing Vascular and Cardiac Surgery businesses.

The company said the new CardioVascular business will bring together people, technology and worldwide operations focused on delivering products, treatments and therapies for coronary artery, vascular and structural heart disease. It will have combined revenues of about $1.9 billion (FY07) and will consist of four major divisions: Coronary and Peripheral — minimally-invasive catheter and stent-based technologies for the treatment of atherosclerosis; Endovascular Innovations — stent grafts for the treatment of aortic abdominal and thoracic aneurysms; Structural Heart Disease — products for the treatment of heart valve disease and atrial fibrillation; and Revascularization and Surgical Therapies — open heart and coronary bypass grafting surgical products.

The four core divisions will remain in their current locations but will leverage common business processes and specific functional infrastructure while expanding scientific knowledge and engineering capabilities to advance cardiovascular care.

According to Medtronic spokesperson Rob Clark, the company decided to merge the divisions because of the ever increasing trend towards performing minimally-invasive procedures in the vascular space coupled with the more recent push towards performing MIS procedures by cardiac surgeons.

"You just see that trend of physicians moving more and more towards those types of procedures," Clark told Medical Device Daily. "From our vantage point, it made a lot of sense to bring these two units together."

Clark noted that the company also gains some other efficiencies internally by merging these divisions. "You can eliminate some duplication in some areas and then take some of those efficiencies and reinvest them in clinical trials and other future technologies."

He stressed that this new combination would not result in any "substantive" employee layoffs or facility closings. This unit merger, he added is "not really a cost-savings move," it's more about "focusing existing resources."

Scott Ward will serve as the new head of the CardioVascular business unit. Ward currently serves as senior VP and president of the company's Vascular business. Ward joined Medtronic in 1981 and has been president of the Vascular business since May 2004. Prior to his current position, Ward served as president of the company's Neurological and Diabetes businesses.

"The new CardioVascular business will assemble an exceptional collection of people, technology and global operations that will be focused on collaborating with physicians to improve the quality of care for people with cardiovascular disease," said Ward. "Medtronic will continue to be a powerful innovative force supporting the convergence of cardiovascular specialties focused on applying both surgical and minimally invasive approaches to patient care."

After the merger, Scott said the company will, for now, have six primary business units: CardioVascular; Cardiac Rhythm and Disease Management; Spinal; Neurological; Diabetes; and Physio-Control.

The company said back in December that it planned to spin-off its Physio-Control (Redmond, Washington) unit, which makes automated external defibrillators, to focus on opportunities that it said "align better with its strategic aims" (Medical Device Daily, Dec. 5, 2006).