Abbott Laboratories recently received FDA clearance for Tendyne, its transcatheter mitral valve replacement system. The news comes on the heels of Edwards Lifesciences Corp. securing a CE mark for its Sapien M3 system and is a boon for mitral valve therapies amid ongoing frustrations about the slow adoption of TMVR technologies.

Although there is a clear clinical need for transcatheter mitral valve replacement technologies, a number of challenges must be overcome before they can safely be used to treat patients with mitral regurgitation. Nevertheless, two new devices could enter the European market next year, Edwards Lifesciences Corp.’s Sapien M3 and Highlife Medical SAS’s Highlife TMVR device.