ARTICLE SUMMARY:
Spun off from Baxter 25 years ago, Edwards Lifesciences charted its own course by prioritizing surgical valves over the rapidly growing sector of interventional cardiology, a counterintuitive move that laid the foundation for lasting success. CEO Bernard Zovighian highlights Edwards’ continuing formula for success, built around innovation, trusted partnerships, and a patient-first culture.
When Edwards Lifesciences spun out of Baxter in 2000, it was not among the pantheon of cardiovascular medical device giants that built huge businesses in the 1980s and 1990s based on the rapidly emerging field of interventional cardiology, driven by coronary stents—among the rare device blockbuster products. In the quarter century since then, however, Edwards has soared to a leadership position by adopting what, by any measure, can truly be termed a contrarian strategy. The company parlayed its leadership in surgical heart valve replacement into a leading position in the then-nascent structural heart space driven by its pioneering efforts in transcatheter valve replacement (TAVR) on the back of its 2004 acquisition of TAVR pioneer Israeli-based start-up Percutaneous Valve Technologies (PVT).
Turning your back on your core customer base, which for Edwards was surgeons, in favor of a still-yet-to-be established specialty (interventionalists) is generally considered a formula for failure. But it has worked incredibly well for Edwards, not only in driving the company to a leadership position in structural heart, which has emerged as a significant cardiovascular market, as interventional cardiologists have also become a dominant specialty, but also in driving shareholder value. The retirement of long-time CEO Mike Mussallem (who ran the company since the spin-off) opened the door to a new leadership team atop Edwards, which tapped long-time company veteran Bernard Zovighian in 2023 to steer Edwards in its next major growth phase. Zovighian joined Edwards in 2015 to run the structural heart business after 20 years with Johnson & Johnson. In the following interview, Zovighian discusses what has made Edward so successful and where the company is headed from here.
