After Edward Life Sciences (hereinafter referred to as Edward) sold its intensive care business to Becton DickinsonMedical for $4.2 billion, a major global layoff has begun. Approximately 3% of employees will be affected by this layoff, and according to proportional calculations, about 540 employees will be laid off.

Edward CEO Bernard Zovighian stated that employees affected by the global layoffs have received notice today that some employees may temporarily stay to assist with the transformation of the intensive care business, while others may find other jobs within the company.

30.4 billion yuan sale, 4500 employees join Becton Dickinson
Edward is deeply engaged in the fields of global structural heart disease, intensive care, and surgical monitoring. Currently, he has multiple advanced products such as heart valves, cardiac intervention therapy equipment, cardiac monitoring equipment, and surgical tools. Among them, with the "world's first successfully implanted artificial mitral valve", Edward firmly occupies the "pioneer" position in the field of heart valves.

While expanding in the field of heart disease, Edward's intensive care and other areas are also continuously strengthening, which is reflected in Edward's 2023 fiscal year and fourth quarter financial reports. However, the idea of selling this important business had been rumored as early as last year.

In December 2023, Edward announced plans to spin off the intensive care business; This massive sale is Edward's two pronged strategy. According to reports, this sale enhances the flexibility of Edward's balance sheet for orderly investment in treatment technologies for patients with aortic, mitral, tricuspid, and pulmonary valves, as well as in new treatment areas such as heart failure intervention therapy. Edward will use after tax cash income to support the subsequent strategic growth needs.

Until June 3rd of this year, BYD Medical acquired Edward's intensive care business for $4.2 billion (approximately 30.4 billion yuan), and this important business finally settled. It is worth noting that with the sale of Edward's intensive care unit, approximately 4500 employees (20% of Edward's total staff) who were originally part of the department will join Becton DickinsonMedical.

Regarding the sale of Edward's important business, CEO Bernard Zovighian stated that the reason for Edward divesting from intensive care is that it will focus on pursuing a strategy centered on structural heart disease. Our goal is to serve a large number of unmet patient needs through differentiated innovation, while expanding our global leadership position, achieving sustainable growth, and increasing shareholder value. The intensive care business has made significant contributions to the company and has a long history of pioneering innovation. We believe that this transaction will strengthen the strength of Edward Life Sciences and BD Healthcare, paving the way for both companies to provide greater value to patients

Lower expectations and focus on developing valve business
This layoff may be related to Edward's Q2 lowered performance expectations. In Q2 2024, Edward's sales amounted to $1632.3 million, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%, of which:
 The sales revenue of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) was $103.86 million, a year-on-year increase of 4.7%;
 The sales revenue of Transcatheter Mitral and Tricuspid Valve Therapy (TMTT) was $83 million, a year-on-year increase of 74.7%, mainly due to the early commercial introduction of PASCAL Precision Transcatheter Mitral and Tricuspid Valve Repair System and EVOQUE Transcatheter Tricuspid Valve Replacement System in the United States and Europe;
Surgical Structural Heart sales amounted to $26.43 million, a year-on-year increase of 3.1%;
 Critical Care sales amounted to $24.64 million, a year-on-year increase of 5.0% (sold)
 Based on the above situation, Edward has lowered his TAVR expectations from 8% to 10% to 5% to 7%; Raise TMTT expectations to $320 million to $340 million. Due to lower than expected performance of its main business TAVR, Edward's stock price fell more than 30% (from $86.95 per share to $59.70 per share) after its second quarter results were released.

Although the intensive care business has been divested, Edward has also completed multiple acquisitions this year. Combining the acquired companies and adjusting performance expectations, Edward will focus on the valve business in the future.

In July 2024, Edward Life Sciences and Affluent Medical reached a € 15 million acquisition deal, acquiring the first "physiological" mitral valve bio valves, EpygonTM and KaliosTM;
In July 2024, Edward Life Sciences exercised its option to acquire Innovate Bio Medical and acquired InnostayTM;

In July 2024, Edward Life Sciences acquired JenaValve Technology and obtained the world's first and only approved (CE) stock TAVR product Trilogy Heart Valve System;

In July 2024, Edward Life Sciences exercised its option to acquire Endotronix, a leader in heart failure (HF) management solutions, and acquired CordellaTM.

In addition to investing heavily in acquisitions, Edward is also investing heavily in developing differentiated repair and replacement products for mitral and tricuspid valve diseases: the EVOQUE transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement system is currently available in the United States and Europe; The PASCAL Precision Transcatheter Valve Repair System has obtained the CE mark in Europe and has been approved by the FDA for patients with degenerative mitral regurgitation. Clinical trials for functional regurgitation patients and tricuspid valve repair are currently underway; The SAPIEN M3 (a) transcatheter mitral valve replacement system via femoral artery is currently undergoing clinical research.

Source: https://news.yaozh.com/archive/44246.html