Why Medtronic Stock Marched Higher on Monday

Medtronic (MDT 2.62%) stock was a fairly hot item as the trading week kicked off, with investors pushing the shares up by almost 3% in value. They liked the medical device specialist’s latest piece of news about one of its products, and reacted accordingly. The stock’s gain easily topped that of the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.55%), which closed the day up 0.6%.

A viable alternative to surgery

On Sunday, Medtronic published five-year data from a low-risk clinical trial of its Evolut transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) system.

In the trial, TAVR, which assists patients suffering from the heart valve disorder aortic stenosis, was tested against surgical aortic vale replacement (SAVR). The trial’s participants all had severe forms of the disorder. TAVR was shown to have comparable rates of all-cause mortality or disabling stroke.

More encouragingly, those using Medtronic’s device demonstrated superior valve performance across the five-year period.

Medtronic trumpeted these results, quoting the chief medical officer of its structural heart unit Kendra Grubb as saying, “At five years, Evolut has demonstrated lasting clinical outcomes comparable to surgery and a trend toward reduced cardiovascular mortality.”

300,000 potential new patients

Any time either a drug or a medical device can prove to be an alternative to surgery is a win, not only for patients of the associated disorder, but for the developer behind it. Medtronic’s news bolsters the use case for Evolut, which is a particular boon, given that roughly 300,000 cases of severe aortic stenosis are diagnosed every year, according to University of Michigan data.