Edwards Lifesciences posted U.S. transcatheter aortic valve revenue that impressed industry analysts. Here are the factors that buoyed sales and what management expects for the near future.

Numerous factors, including faster growth from new hospitals, drove Edwards Lifesciences' strong first quarter U.S. transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) sales. Management from the TAVR giant pointed to "several small things" that helped boost sales of its Sapien TAVR platform.

"Overall, we're very pleased with the quarter. It was a little better than our expectations, several things broke our way," CEO Michael Mussallem said during the earnings call, according to a Seeking Alpha call transcript.

That included a possible lift from the results of the SURTAVI trial presented at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting in March. That trial compared Medtronic's Corevalve TAVR platform to open-heart surgery in intermediate risk patients at two years and showed the less invasive approach was non-inferior to surgery. Analysts said at the time that the SURTAVI results could help Edwards too, since the company has the only FDA-approved TAVR for the intermediate risk patient group.

Mussallem echoed this. "Whenever we see these continued positive outcomes in a robust clinical study like that, I think it does help the overall awareness and therapy adoptions," he said.

In addition, new U.S. centers that recently started performing Sapien TAVR procedures demonstrated a faster adoption rate than expected and management said the company has not yet felt the impact of Medtronic's Corevalve Evolut R 34 mm competitive launch, though that impact is likely to be felt this year.

Mussallem explained that the strong quarter wasn't the result of one unusual factor. "We sometimes look at procedures per day, and that's had a continued march north and continually improve. But really, nothing unusual," he said. "Pricing [is] very stable, clinical sales were not unusual, and I'm not sure the share position's really changed very much as well." He added that he expects the number of Sapien cases performed per day to continue to increase.

Mussallem also warned against focusing too much on each quarter's performance. "We try and look at the long-term trends and we're obviously in this for the long run."

In an April 26 research note, Stifel analyst Rick Wise wrote, "While clearly there can be quarter-to-quarter variability in TAVR growth, and EU IP litigation headlines may prove unsettling from time-to-time, EW continues to produce impressive numbers by any measure."

[Image courtesy of EDWARDS LIFESCIENCES]